NOTES ON PARTICULAR TREES 75 



of making a plantation. A few Scotch fir in a 

 wood are an ornament in winter when the other 

 trees have lost their leaves, and give a warm 

 shelter to game. It rarely produces in England 

 timber capable of making good planks and 

 beams until it is much older than larch of the 

 same size would be. As a rule, a larger profit 

 will be made by selling a wood as soon as it is 

 fit for pit-props and poles than by thinning 

 and allowing the best trees to remain to form 

 large timber. 



Spruce is liable to be blown down in gales, 

 for the roots are close to the ground. It is not 

 often injured by snow, for the boughs bend 

 under the weight and allow the snow to slip 

 off. The timber generally sells better than 

 Scotch fir. It may be usefully planted in 

 sheltered places which are damp and not good 

 enough for ash, and sometimes in such situations 

 it grows to a great size. 



Sitka spruce is a faster growing tree than 

 the common spruce. Although the value of the 

 mature timber has not yet been proved and it 

 can be planted only as an experiment, yet it 

 offers a reasonable prospect of being remunera- 

 tive if it is planted as an alternative to alder 

 or Black Italian poplar where the local circum- 



