Coniferous Timber of Commerce. 103 



being underground, 250 years old, from Vancouver Island, 

 was erected in 1861 near the Temperate House at Kew. 

 When I was at Vancouver in 1859, in H.M.S. Tribune, it 

 became necessary to replace our damaged mainmast. We 

 cut down three or four Douglases, but found them to be all 

 too full of knots for the purpose ; so we ordered a squared 

 spar of the same timber from Oregon Territory, which was 

 towed across the straits, and delivered alongside in Esquimalt 

 Harbour, at the price of eight shillings per running foot, 

 with two shillings per running foot additional for towage. 

 This spar, being rounded, made a splendid mast, 101 feet 

 high, faultless, and nearly knotless. During a recent visit to 

 Portsmouth Dockyard, I was gratified to find that our mast 

 is still preserved in the mast house as a "show mast." 



It may be a surprise, perhaps, to know that Larix 

 EuROPiEA, L., the Common Larch, does not find its way into 

 the Messrs Allan's business — because it is so much used, and 

 considered to be so valuable ; but they do not deal in it. 

 Being very durable, it is greatly in request for rural purposes, 

 and boat builders use it almost exclusively for "skins" of 

 boats — that is for decks and planking. Habitat — The Alps 

 and Central Europe, and parts of Siberia. Introduced into 

 England, 1629. I learn from our esteemed member, Mr 

 Ferguson, that at Duns Castle the old Larch, which was the 

 first, or one of the first ever planted in Scotland, as it came 

 with the same batch as the famous original Dunkeld Larches, 

 is standing. Though it lost the upper portion of the trunk 

 in the storm of October 1891, and was thus considerably 

 reduced in height, it is still a noble and imposing object. 

 The Duke of Athole's head forester informs me that the 

 Dunkeld Larches were planted in the year 1738. One of 

 them, measured in 1888, was 102 feet high; circumference 

 3 feet from the ground, 17 feet 2 inches; and contained 648 

 cubic feet of wood. 



In conclusion, I should like to add that, as my short paper 

 treats only of Coniferse, nothing has been said about the 

 numerous woods of other orders imported by Messrs Allan ; 

 but on a future occasion I hope to offer to the Club a 

 description of those also- 



