APPENDIX 335 



Britain. But the fault is in the wrong and unscientific manage- 

 ment, and not the soil or climate. 



The celebrated Norway pine, or red deal of commerce, is the Pine and deal 



• T r. 1 /- 1 11 11 1 timber can be 



same tree as our mdigenous Scotch nr, and can equally well be grown in Eng- 

 grown in England. If we examine a plank of good Norway red iu"'l^'\"^' '° 

 deal, or Memel, we find the layers of the grain or annual rings are 

 I o or 12 to the inch, all dark coloured, with no sap and few 

 knots. If we examine the rings of Scotch fir, thinned out too 

 early on Brown's principle, we find they are pretty close in the 

 centre. The year when the early thinning occurred is easily 

 discerned by the sudden widening out of the annual rings to 

 probably four to the inch. The heart-wood is like a dark core in 

 the centre, and outside is white sap-wood full of knots. Boards 

 cut out of such stuff are of quality the very worst. The stems of 

 the trees are thick, but very deficient in height, and scarcely pay for 

 sawing.* Douglas spruce, if grown close together, as in Vancouver 

 Island, where the climate is similar, will produce in this country 

 the most excellent of all spars and deals, 150 feet long. Corsican 

 pine would produce a pine -wood equal to American pitch- 

 pine. The qualities of larch, which grows to perfection in 

 England, are well known ; but though these trees are tolerably 

 rapid in growth, the attempt to force them up too quickly for 

 an early realization of their value has produced disease and 

 failure. 



These lessons from Nature apply to all kinds of forests all the by NSfafd 



in forest 

 * Here are the actual measurements of Scotch firs grown in Ireland : schools. 



Gi-own 30 to the acre, with spreading 

 crowus. 



Girth, 5 feet. 



Height, 50 feet. 



Age, 40 years. 



Diameter, 20 inches. 



Rings per inch, 4 (uneven). 



Thickness of heart-wood, 12 inches. 



Thickness of sap-wood, 8 inches. 



These trees are very quickly grown 

 on deep, soft soil, liable to be blown 



Grown 200 to the acre, with small 

 crozoTS. 



Girth, 5 feet. 



Height, 75 feet. 



Age, 100 years. 



Diameter, 20 inches. 



Rings per inch, 10 (regular). 



Heart-wood, 19 inches. 



Sap-wood, I inch. 



These trees were slowly grown on 

 a hillside on poor and stony soil ; 



over, timber coarse, knotty, worthless, j standing together they resist storm, 



and light and perishable, fully 4 inches Their timber is fine-grained, hard, 



of sap-wood under the bark. 1 heavy, durable, and equal to the best 



1 Memel, scarcely any sap-wood. 



