180 The Douglas Fir. 



in its uame; aud there are few instances where the application 

 of the rules which govern botanical nomenclature has produced a 

 more unsatisfactory result. Lambert, who tirst named the tree, called 

 it Pinus taxifolia. from the fancied resemblance of the leaves to 

 those of the Yew-tree; then Lindley, disregarding Lambert's specific 

 name, named it Abies Douglasii in honor of its rediscoverer. Carriere, 

 recognizing the characters which separate this tree from the true 

 Firs, coined for his genus a bastard word, half Greek and half Japan- 

 ese, and called it Pseudotsuga, a perfectly improper name, as it has 

 little in common with Tsuga, the Japanese name for the Hemlock. 

 Carriere retained, however, Lindley'sDouglassii, calling the tree Pseu- 

 dotsuga Douglasii, but as Lambert's specific name is the oldest, the 

 Douglas Fir must be known as Pseudotsuga taxifolia, a name bad in 

 every way, and especially bad in its failure to recognize the name of 

 Douglas, which, more than that of any other man, should be asso- 

 ciated with it. 



The Douglas Fir has proved itself in cultivation to be an orna- 

 mental tree of great value. The largest specimen in England is 

 already more than 110 feet high, with a stout trunk furnisiied with 

 branches from ground to tip, and showing no signs of diminishing 

 vigor or beauty. The earliest attempts at cultivating the Douglas 

 Fir in the eastern states were not successful ; the trees raised from 

 seed, gathered in the mild and humid climate of the northwest or in 

 England, first planted here were unable, except in exceptional posi- 

 tions, to support our climate for any length of time. The late Dr. 

 Parry, however, in 1862 discovered the Douglas Fir growing on the 

 eastern slojies of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in a climate dis- 

 tinguished by the severity of the cold of winter and by the drought 

 of summer; he sent seed to the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, and 

 the plants raised from tliis seed have proved hardy in the most try- 

 ing situations in New England. Some of these trees are now more 

 than twenty feet high, and although it is too soon to speak with any- 

 thing like certainty in the matter, there is reason to hope that they 

 will grow to a large size and retain their beauty for many years. 



Much attention has been given to the Douglas Fir of late years 

 as a subject for forest-planting in Europe, although the best author- 

 ities on such matters do not yet agree as to its value for this purpose. 

 Large experiujental forest-plantations are made every year, espe- 

 cially in some parts of Germany, where some forest-experts believe 

 that the Douglas Fir is to rival and finally replace the Larch in Eu- 

 rope as a timber-tree. It has the merit of growing with surprising 

 rapidity and of producing a large amount of timber in a compara- 

 tively short time. Few coniferous trees grow as rapidly as the 

 Douglas Fir, and it is not uncommon to see self-sown seedlings in 

 Washington and Oregon producing, when they stand very close 

 together in good soil, annual shoots twelve feet long. 



A remarkal)le form of the Douglas Fir, distinguished by its large 



