1352. The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



As a nurse it is, on land unsuitable for Scots pine, one of the best we have, 

 if not allowed to overcrowd the hardwoods planted with it ; because its branches 

 protect the ground from frost and drought, and its rapid growth acts as a wind- 

 break and draws up the other trees. Its roots are more superficial than those 

 of larch or Scots pine ; and it is much cheaper to plant and less liable to injury from 

 frost than silver fir. Loudon quotes {Art. et FruL Brit. p. 2305) the experience of 

 W. Adam, Esq., of Blair, Kinross-shire, who was a great advocate of planting 

 spruce as a nurse to oak and elm ; but it must be cut out or its lower branches 

 lopped before it becomes large. 



In the east and north-east of Scotland the tree seems more promising as a 

 forest tree ; and in the opinion of Mr. Crozier may produce a more valuable crop than 

 either larch or Scots pine at considerable elevations. He gives me particulars of 

 a plantation of 400 acres on the Durris estate, at an elevation of over 800 ft., which 

 was marketed under his own supervision. The age of the trees was sixty years, the 

 number per acre 560, averaging 10 cubic feet each. Sold standing at 5d. per foot 

 they realised ;^ii6 per acre. Some parts of this plantation planted with Scots pine 

 only made ;^i5 per acre, and the best of it under larch was estimated at £^0 per 

 acre. In this plantation the spruce was planted in patches, none over three or four 

 acres, usually on sites unsuitable on account of excessive moisture for larch or Scots 

 pine. The greater parts of the area, however, might well have been planted with 

 spruce, as the locality is favourable to its growth, and similar results to the above 

 are the rule rather than the exception on the whole estate. I have lately received 

 from Mr. D. Munro of Banchory a photograph (Plate 371) of this plantation, most 

 of the trees in which were blown down after it was sold. Mr. Crozier states that 

 there is a large demand for home-grown spruce boards for box-making in Scotland, 

 but that the wood must be fairly free from knots and discoloration ; and he considers 

 it one of the most useful timbers for house-building. He adds that when planters 

 realise that the limit of altitude for spruce planting lies above the pine belt, and not 

 below it as seems to have been the general idea, and that it must be grown thicker 

 than larch or Scots pine, its economic merits will become more evident than they 

 are at present. 



In confirmation of Mr. Crozier's opinion that spruce is a valuable tree for 

 planting for profit at a high elevation, I may refer to Messrs. Robinson and Watt's 

 very full report ^ on the Coombe Plantation, which lies between 900 and 1 500 ft. 

 altitude near Keswick in Cumberland. This plantation, which was sixty-one years 

 old in 1 9 10, consists mainly of larch, with a mixture of spruce, amounting to only 

 one or two per cent at the lower levels, but to ten per cent at over 1250 ft. These 

 authors state that here "spruce grows well at all elevations, and everywhere 

 attains a greater volume than larch under the same conditions." At the higher 

 altitudes it much exceeds the larch in volume. The influence of altitude and 

 exposure on the spruce itself is shown in the following table : — 



^ Journ. Board of Agric. xvii. 273, 360 (1910). 



