

PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



forming of plantations of P. Douglasii alone, or with some 

 other tree of about equally rapid growth, for, when mixed up 

 with the general run of our forest trees, the leader, on over- 

 topping those of its neighbours, soon gets broken over, or 

 otherwise presents an almost branchless, whip-handle-like 

 appearance. We do not wish to say one word against this 

 our favourite fir : but the truth must be told, and our own 

 experience, gained principally on a low-lying seaside estate, 

 and where the tree was annually planted by the thousand, is 

 that P. Douglasii must occupy a sheltered situation if either 

 ornament or utility be points of importance. 



The Giant Arborvitee (Thuia gigantea) is fast coming to the 

 front as a British timber tree, and has ah eady, at the hands of 

 far-seeing planters, received a fair amount of attention. After 

 a fair and impartial trial on our part, we have found it to be 

 perfectly hardy, even at high altitudes, a fast grower and 

 rapid timber-producer, a non-fastidious subject as regards 

 the quality of soil in which it is planted, and one of the 

 easiest managed and most accommodating of trees. The 

 quality of timber produced in this country is such as to 

 \varrant us in speaking highly of it, it being of a desirable 

 yellow colour, fine-grained, easily worked, remarkably 

 durable, and light in proportion to its bulk. From the 

 measurements of fully twenty-four specimens scattered over 

 an English park, we, have found that the average annual 

 rate of growth is 22 in., but even this is exceeded by young 

 trees. 



The Norway Spruce (Picea excels a). Whether as a hardy, 

 shelter-giving tree, or for the quantity of fairly good timber 

 it produces, the common or Norway spruce must ever rank 

 high in the list of useful trees that have been found suitable 

 for culture in the British Isles. That it is a tree in every 

 sense of the word admirably suited for extensive planting is 

 acknowledged by all, it luxuriating at high altitudes, arid 

 where fully exposed to our worst winds, and at the same time 

 producing a great quantity of timber that has been found of 

 excellent quality and well suited for general constructive 

 purposes. As a shelter tree few others can equal the spruce, 

 and when planted along the outskirts of exposed plantations 



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