IN TWO HEALTHY TREES. 287 
all, the plants in question stood near the centre of the planta- 
tion, exceedingly well sheltered. Could the long drought have 
been the cause of an appearance, which, so far as my experience 
has gone, must be rare in our climate? This seemed more pro- 
bable. 
Yet even against this solution of the difficulty there were 
some considerations not to be neglected. First, the spot, where 
these two Spruces and many others grew, was one of the best in 
respect of soil, within the limits of the plantation, and it was na- 
turally always rather moist, though not with stagnant water. 
The soil is of considerable depth, black, and of the nature of 
ancient peat or forest-soil, and, not having been under the 
plough, was always covered with a fresh green herbage. It was 
the most unlikely spot of all to be deprived entirely of moisture 
by the long drought, though doubtless it had reached a very un- 
usual degree of dryness. Again, I happened to remember that 
in the preceding month of May, I had cut out a number of 
Larches, and several Spruces also, from a distant part of the 
same plantation ; that the Larches were immediately peeled and 
left lying in the shade, whilst the Spruces had been carried out, 
in their bark, and laid together on the south side of the wood- 
land, so that they must have been exposed all summer to the 
sun. I was very curious to see whether these poles of Spruce 
had been cracked or “galed” by the heat and exposure. On 
going to the spot I found them lying as I expected, but without 
a single fissure. The Larches, though lying well shaded, were a 
good deal rent. 
I may now add, two years subsequently, that the health and 
vigour of the two Spruces in question has continued without 
any check. They are thriving as well as any of their neigh- 
bours. The fissures are superficially almost all closed. The 
lower branches, as well as those higher up, continue alive and 
healthy, and still clothe and protect the stems from excessive 
evaporation, as they did at the time of the injury. 
On the whole, it seems to me difficult to infer that drought 
could be the primary, or, at least, the only cause, of this occur- 
rence, to two trees only out of so many, and those but little ex- 
