IOO THE NEW FORESTRY. 



Common Norway Spruce. Abies excelsa. — As at present 

 grown in our over-thinned woods, where it is more or less 

 branched too near the ground, this tree is one of the most 

 worthless to the producer. Thinnings and small poles are 

 practically unsaleable, and large trees only fetch from one 

 penny to threepence per foot it within a reasonable distance 

 from the consumer. Trees of large size, free from knots, are in 

 fair demand for waggon bottoms and other purposes, but only 

 a portion of our home-grown trees can be Used, the upper 

 portion of their trunks being usually a mass of large bulging 

 knots which are sawn off as useless, except perhaps for firing 

 the engines of the saw mill. Good, clean trees of cylindrical 

 shape, like our telegraph poles, would find a ready market, as 

 they make good deals and are also likely to be by-and-by used 

 as railway sleepers as they are now used in the spruce regions 

 of Germany. Spruce is now also used to such an enormous 

 extent for making paper that an early scarcity is feared both 

 in Europe and America. It likes a cool, damp soil and situa- 

 tion, and is a good subject for under-planting, as it bears shade 

 well. Dry, exposed situations and dry soils do not suit it, but 

 it will grow in a dense plantation where it will scarcely live 

 standing by itself. It is one of the best subjects to plant as 

 covert for pheasants. 



Silver Fir. Abies pectinata. — This tree lays on wood 

 faster than the common spruce, which it resembles in its habits 

 and wants, and its timber is used for similar purposes. The 

 two are commonly planted together in Scotland. Probably no 

 forest tree involves so much work in felling and .cleaning as 

 this fir when grown in thin woods, where it is always heavily 

 branched. In Continental spruce forests we have seen trees 

 one hundred and thirty, feet high felled that needed scarcely 

 any cleaning save the cutting off of the short top, whereas in 

 Scotland, trees of less size we have known to occupy two men 

 nearly a day in cutting off the branches alone. 



DOUGLAS Fir. Abies Douglasia. — The vitality of this tree 

 exceeds that of all other firs in suitable situations. Like the 

 spruce, it fails on dry soils and exposures. We have known it 

 tried repeatedly and carefully in such positions far inland on 

 the eastern slopes of the Pennine Range in Yorkshire and 

 fail completely,, but have seen it growing freely near, the sea on 

 the Norfolk, coast' along with other spruces. In the New 

 Forest it is as much at home as in Perthshire, where it is seen 

 at its best— the fine lawn specimen at Dunkeld, planted about 

 1845, and containing about one hundred cubic feet, being one 



