106 NATURAL HISTORY OF SCOTCH FIR. 



vegetation on the soil of France cannot yet be known, from the 

 limited numbers under cultivation ; plantations of various oaks, 

 particularly schools of oaks of Europe and of Asia, amongst which 

 are worthy of note, Quercus Fastigiata, Cerris, Tauzi, Aegilops or 

 Velani, in the avenues and borders ; some new and remarkable 

 poplars, &c. 



" These plantations, if not complete, at least very extensive, will 

 furnish to the man of science and to the practical man great means 

 of study. The opinion, on this subject, of foresters and of dis- 

 tinguished agrinomes who have visited them have almost made it 

 obligatory to publish the results I have obtained ; and, having to 

 some extent anticipated this, I fulfil the duty now with the more 

 satisfaction, seeing that my conviction has always been in accordance 

 with that which has been expressed to me. To make plantations of 

 this sort fulfil the design of them, or to have the chance of doing so, 

 supposing they should exist their full terms, it is necessary that the 

 lots of which they are composed should be found with ease and with 

 certainty when those who have created them shall be no more : for 

 this every necessary arrangement has been made." 



As has been stated, the one principal object aimed at by M. 

 Vilmorin in the establishment of this Experimental Forest was to 

 determine the varieties of the j9i?i?is s^lvestris and the properties of 

 each, with their adaptation for culture in different districts of 

 France ; but other trees received also a large share of his attention. 



I had the privilege of visiting the plantation and seeing it 

 under the guidance of M. Henri Vilmorin, grandson of the founder, 

 the honoured representative of three successive generations of 

 noble-minded men, who distinguished themselves in this field of 

 labour. 



Of the Scotch Fir (Pimis Sylvestris) there were rows of trees, raised 

 from seed or seedlings received from difi'erent parts of the Continent 

 and from Scotland, representing thirty varieties or sub-varieties of 

 the tree ; and rows of other coniferae, representing the products of 

 nearly a hundred different parcels of seeds or seedlings received from 

 various parts of the world ; rows of oaks, representing the products 

 of upwards of sixty different parcels of acorns and seedlings collected 

 from all quarters ; and rows, or one or more single trees, representing 

 upwards of a hundred and fifty other hard-wood trees. There were 

 in all some two hundred and twenty-five different species and varieties 

 of trees, and numerous specimens of some of these, selected, some for 



