364 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



September _ 



2 inches high 



1 1 

 ( i 

 i I 

 ( ( 



4 



8 



13 

 24 



36 



54 



72 



96 

 120 



( < 









from 3 to 9 feet. The age of the ma- 

 jority of the trees is between 250 and 

 500 years, though some of the largest 

 specimens have shown nearly i ,000 an- 

 nual rings. 



Mr. A. J. Johnson has submitted the 

 following figures concerning the early 

 growth of the Noble Fir, from seeds 

 germinated in his uurser}- at Astoria, 

 Oregon, where the elevation above sea- 

 level is about 10 feet : 



One-year-old seedling. 



Two-year-old " 



Three-year-old 



Four-year-old 



Five-year-old 



Six-year-old 



Seven-y^ar-old 



Eight-year-old 



Nine-year-old 



Ten-year-old 



In the forest the growth, which is 

 about 84 inches in ten years, is much 

 slower than under cultivation, as would 

 naturally be expected. From the above 

 figures it can be seen that the tree is of 

 fairly rapid height growth. 



Under very favorable conditions as 

 high as 12,000,000 board feet have been 

 known to grow upon a quarter section. 

 In this special instance the tree was in 

 an almost pure stand with a slight mix- 

 ture of Hemlock only. However, near 

 its minimum limit of elevation, among 

 the Red Firs and Hemlocks, usually 

 there are but one or two larch trees to 

 the acre, though these are among the 

 finest specimens in the forest. 



The tree seeks cool situations, and 

 requires an extremely moist climate. 

 There is ample proof of this from the 

 fact that comparatively few of the 

 species have been found upon the east- 

 ern slope of the Cascades, where the 

 rainfall rapidl}^ diminishes from a 

 yearly average of over 60 inches at the 

 crest of the mountains to less than 20 

 inches in the semi-arid chaparral dis- 

 tricts of eastern Oregon and Washing- 

 ton. A deep, moist, and fertile soil is 

 essential to its best development. 



Regarding the adaptability of the 

 Noble Fir to our eastern climate with 

 a view to planting, for ornamental pur- 

 poses more especially, something of im- 



VIEW SHOWING THE CLEAR LENGTH OF A 

 NOBLK FIR. 



