iQOi 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



365 



portance may be gleaned from the fol- 

 lowing note, submitted by Mr. Josiah 

 Hoopes, of West Chester, Pa. : " When 

 a young man I conceived the idea of 

 planting in our climate all the rarer coni- 

 fers with a view of testing their avail- 

 ability. A number of species was ac- 

 cordingly procured and planted in a 

 group with a southern exposure, some- 

 what protected from the bleak north- 

 west winds. The result toda}^, after half 

 a century, is certainly very gratifying. 



' ' In this group, now too crowded for 

 perfect development, are the following 

 species : Abies Nordmaniana, Abies 110- 

 bilis, Abies grandis, Abies pichta a 

 weeping form of Abies pectinata, Abies 

 Cephalon ica , Picea excelsa , Picea oj'ieii talis, 

 Picea obovata, and Picea menziesii. 



''Abies 7iobilis, being surrounded by 

 the others and densely shaded by their 

 interlocking branches, has not had a fair 

 test, but the Abies grandis (var. lasio- 

 carpa f) is certainly grand in its pro- 

 portions, notwithstanding the lower 

 branches are graduall}^ dying out. The 

 Abies gniJidis is fully 50 feet high, with 

 the diameter of its trunk 30 inches." 



The Abies nobilis referred to by Mr. 

 Hoopes was planted in 1S54, and it is 

 still quite healthy. Its height is about 

 45 feet, and its diameter, close to the 

 ground, is 18 inches. 



In England, where the tree was in- 

 troduced immediately after its discovery 

 by Douglas, in September, 1825, one of 

 the largest specimens was, in 1891, 71 

 feet high. It was planted, where it now 

 stands, in the pinetum at Dropmore, 

 near Windsor, in 1837. 



TOLERANCE OF SHADE AND REPRO- 

 DUCTION. 



A marked characteristic of the Noble 

 Fir at apparently every stage of its 

 growth is its intolerance of shade. The 

 young seedlings require no shade when 

 growing naturally, and are found only 

 in clearings caused by fire or lumbering. 

 One will look almost in vain for a noble 

 fir seedling in the forest, but where there 

 is an opening admitting sufficient light 

 one will usually find a fairly good re- 

 production. Natural pruning goes on 

 rapidly, and the long, clear stem shoves 



its crown skyward, quite overtopping 

 the associating species in the struggle 

 for full enjoyment of the light. 



Seed crops are produced at intervals 

 of two to three years. 



ENEMIES. 



The chief enemy of the Pacific Coast 

 forests is fire, but the Noble Fir is rather 

 fortunate in occupying moist situations, 

 where fires can gain but little headway 

 except during a prolonged dry season. 

 The tree is not easily thrown by storms. 



The Noble Fir is attacked by a num- 

 ber of diseases, of which one of the most 

 severe is a fungus, Echinodontium tinc- 

 torium, very common also on the West- 

 ern Hemlock. This fungus enters at 

 the top of the tree and produces a soft 

 rot of the heart wood. Another preva- 

 lent fungus is the western form of the 

 Trametes pini, which causes a so-called 

 speckled rot or dote on the eastern co- 

 nifers. This fungus enters at the top of 

 the tree also. A third fungus, Poly- 

 porus schivei7iitzii, is a widel}' distributed 

 species which enters at the ground. 



By far the most common diseases are 

 those which work in at the top and ex- 

 tend to the butt as the age of the tree 

 increases, producing what is known to 

 lumbermen as "dry rot." 



CHARACTER OF FOREST. 



The character of the larch forest is a 

 high story of Earch with an understorj' 

 of Hemlock, or of Hemlock and Red Fir. 

 In the latter case the Red Fir forms a 

 story intermediate to the Earch and the 

 Hemlock. Apparently the tree is not 

 adapted for pure forests, and it is rarely 

 found as such, owing chiefly to its com- 

 paratively short and more or less thinly 

 foliaged crown, which the sun's rays 

 freely penetrate, thus endangering a 

 suitable degree of moisture in the soil. 



The finest specimens are found where 

 there is a dense understory of Red Fir 

 and Hemlock, forming a complete soil 

 cover, which, with the luxuriant under- 

 growth so characteristic of the Pacific 

 Coast forests, preserves excellent condi- 

 tions of soil moisture. 



The most common associate of the 



