236 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



" From many observations made in the zone of the hemlock and lovely fir, it is 

 apparent that these trees, from their ability to thrive under the most adverse con- 

 ditions, are rapidly superseding the others, and will, under natural conditions, be the 

 sole components of the alpine forests. It is a striking fact that, upon many areas 

 vi^here from 50 to 100 per cent of the present forest is red fir (Douglas), the repro- 

 duction is entirely hemlock and lovely fir. Should these forests be destroyed by fire 

 it is probable that red fir would rival these species in restocking the burn ; but under 

 natural conditions it is evident that the red fir will be displaced, and the limits of the 

 alpine trees become much lower than at present. 



"The yellow pine {P. ponderosa), in some instances, does good work in stocking 

 open spots in the timber, but seldom extends far beyond the parent tree. In the yellow 

 pine forests most of the young growth is red or white fir i^A. grandis), which, taking 

 advantage of the shade and moisture afforded by the yellow pine cover, is growing 

 rapidly, and will in time form a larger percentage of the forest than it has in the past." 



I can confirm this from my own observation both in the Cascade Forest and in 

 Vancouver's Island. The seedlings germinate most freely when they fall on the 

 moss-covered rotting trunk of a fallen tree, along which a complete row of young 

 trees often grows ; and Plate 59, vol. i. shows a tree of this species, probably 

 150 years old, whose roots had completely enclosed the still sound trunk of a red 

 cedar {Thuya plicatd). A valuable paper ^ by Mr. E. T. Allen, dealing with the 

 western hemlock from a forestry point of view, has been published by the U.S. 

 Bureau of Forestry. 



Cultivation 



It was introduced in 1851 by Jeffrey, and named in 1863 by Murray, at the 

 request of Queen Victoria, in memory of the late Prince Consort, who was a patron 

 of the Oregon Association, and President of the Royal Horticultural Society.- 



In grace, freedom of growth, and adaptability to varied conditions of culture, 

 in England this, as an ornamental tree, is second to none, and much superior to any 

 other hemlock. Though it has been in cultivation little over fifty years it has already 

 attained a height of about 90 feet in such widely distant counties as Kent, Devon- 

 shire, and Perthshire. 



The only soils on which it will not thrive arc chalk, limestone, and heavy clay, 

 and though it enjoys all the moisture that the wettest parts of England afford, it 

 wants, like all its congeners, a well-drained soil and a sheltered situation. 



It ripens seed abundantly in England, and has sown itself in several localities, 

 especially at Blackmoor, the seat of the Earl of Selborne, where there are several 

 self-sown trees, of which the best, growing on the lower greensand formation, is, at 

 about fifteen years old, 10 to 12 feet high, though the parent trees do not exceed 

 about 65 feet. 



In Fulmodestone Wood, on Lord Leicester's estate in Norfolk, I have also seen 

 self-sown seedlings ; and though they are very slow in growth for the first four or five 



1 "The Western Hemlock," U.S. Dept. Agric. Forestry Bulletin, No. 33 (1902). 

 - Hunter, Woo.h of Perthshire, p. 350. 



