growing at the Whim^ in Peeblesshire. 255 



Similar anomalies in the growth of the spruce fir are not un- 



frequent in the case of the black spruce, ^bies nigra. One is 



described by Mr. Gorrie, in the Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 173., 



as standing in the woods of Braco Castle, Perthshire ; of which 



^g. 92. is a portrait by Mr. Gorrie. This tree, in 1828, was 



about 40 years old ; but its height is not mentioned. Mr. 

 Gorrie adds that a natural seedling, which had sprung up not 

 far distant from the mother tree, and was apparently about 

 12 years of age, was also, in its turn, already surrounded by 

 a numerous and healthy progeny of young trees, proceeding 

 from the extreme points of the branches. At Syon, there is a 

 tree of ^^bies nigra of 50 or 60 years' growth, and probably much 

 more, which is 30 ft. high, and is surrounded by a double circle of 

 trees, which have sprung up from the points of the recumbent 

 branches, all of which have taken root. A portrait of this tree 

 will be found in our Arboretum Britaimicum. At Stourhead in 

 Wiltshire, and at Ditton Park near Windsor, there are common 

 spruces, the lower branches of which have rooted into the soil, 

 and the extreme points have grown up into regularly branched 

 trees. There is also a very singular tree of this kind at Moor 

 Park, near Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire, the seat of the 

 Marquess of Westminster; and we think we have seen several 

 others in different parts of the kingdom, though we cannot at 

 this moment recollect where. We know of none, however, at 

 all to be compared, in point of singularity and beauty, with those 

 at the Whim, which we saw in 1805; and the recollection of 

 them induced us to request Mr. Henderson, in 1836, to ascer- 



