CONIFERS FOR ECONOMIC PLANTING. 153 



specimens I have measured, as much as 30 inches in height. 

 Stem bulk is, likewise, well carried on with this increase in 

 height, and quite recently I examined a plantation of thirty- 

 two years' growth in which Pinus Laricio had attained to 65 

 feet in height, and with many of the stems girthing from 5 feet 

 to fully 6 feet at a yard from the ground. Standing alongside 

 one of the largest trees, I counted around me no less than 

 nine others whose average stem girth was 5 feet 4 inches, and 

 the height 65 feet. 



The Douglas Fir {Psetidotstiga Douglasii) is in certain 

 situations a valuable timber-producing tree ; but to grow it to 

 perfection good soil and sheltered valleys are quite a necessity. 

 Had we the canons and deep hilly gorges of some of the 

 North American States, there can be little doubt that the 

 Douglas fir, from its suitability to our climate generally, 

 would be one of the most valuable timber-producing trees 

 that we could plant. In this country, under peculiarly 

 favourable circumstances, I have known the Douglas fir to 

 produce 240 feet of timber in fifty years, or nearly 5 feet per 

 year for half a century. In taking the average size of the 

 trees in a plantation formed twenty-two years, the dimensions 

 were as follows : Height, ']6 feet ; girth of stem at 24 feet, 

 4 feet ; cubic contents fully 50 feet : thus giving an annual 

 increase in wood of 2\ feet. The average cubic contents of 

 each tree in another wood, mainly composed of the Douglas 

 fir, was nearly 2| feet per annum for thirty-five years. By 

 way of experiment I had several large trees cut up, and 

 utilised for several purposes fences, door-posts, boat masts, 

 etc., and with fairly satisfactory results. I do not wish to 

 say one word against this my favourite fir, but the truth must 

 be told, and my own experience, gained principally on a low- 

 lying, maritime estate, which favoured the growth of most 

 trees, is, that the Douglas fir must occupy a sheltered situa- 

 tion if either ornament or utility be considered as points of 

 importance ; indeed, a lengthened experience gained on an 

 estate where it is, perhaps, grown in greater quantity than on 

 any other, has now fully convinced me that the Douglas fir 



