Pseudotsuga 831 



consideration, there can be no doubt that this has been an unusually profitable 

 investment, and one which would fully justify planting Douglas fir on a large 

 scale in this district. Mr. Luttrell states that where there is sufficient room and light 

 the trees reproduce freely from seed. 



In Scotland there are many Douglas firs exceeding lOO feet in height, but 

 we cannot say which is actually the largest ; and if we did, it would not hold 

 good for many years to come. The tallest recorded at the Conifer Conference ^ in 

 1 89 1 was at Lynedoch, on Lord Mansfield's property in Perthshire, which was then 

 reported to be 92 feet by 12 feet, but had a fork at 60 feet from the ground^ 

 (Plate 230). Another tree at the same place, is the parent of the seedlings planted 

 at Scone and Taymount, and was only 72^^ feet by 11 feet 2 inches, though planted 

 in 1834. 



One of the oldest trees is in the grounds of Scone Palace, and bears the 

 inscription "raised from the first seed, brought by David Douglas in 1827, 

 planted 1834." In 1850 it was transplanted to its present position, and this has 

 doubtless checked its growth. It measured, in 1904, 96 feet high by 10 feet in girth. 

 Its foliage is conspicuously white beneath. 



At Drumlanrig, in Dumfriesshire, there is also an original tree, which was sent 

 by David Douglas to his brother, who was clerk of works at Drumlanrig about 1832. 

 It is growing in shallow gravelly soil near the top of a hill, overlooking a glen, and 

 in 1 904 measured 90 feet high by 1 1 feet 4 inches in girth. 



Mr. R. Macleod of Cadboll sends me the measurements of four trees taken in 

 1907 by Mr. C. E. Cranstoun at Corehouse, near Lanark, as follows : — 



No. I. . . . 



„ 2. . 



„ 3- • 



„ 4. . 



He adds that these were raised from the first seed sent to Scotland by Douglas ; 

 and that he finds by repeated measurements of several trees, that their rate of girth 

 increase is about 2 inches per annum. 



At Durris, in Kincardineshire, the original and largest tree, planted about 

 seventy-two years ago, has now reached 114 feet by 12^^ feet, and contains over 300 

 feet of timber. At Buchanan Castle, Stirlingshire, Mr. Renwick measured' in 1900 

 an original tree 85 feet by 13 feet 2 inches. He informs us that the girth in 1908 is 

 14 feet 2^ inches. 



At Murthly Castle there are probably more large trees of this species than 

 anywhere in Scotland, the plantation below the castle being especially fine, and also 

 the avenue called the Dolphin Walk, where the trees, planted about 8 yards apart, 



1 Joum. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 537 (1892). 



2 An accurate measurement of this tree, made in January 1908 by Mr. A. T. Kinnear, makes it 108 feet high by 13 feet 

 9 inches at 5 feet. The main stem up to the fork, 60 feet from the ground, contains 415 feet, and the two tops together, 48 

 feet, making the whole 463 cubic feet. s Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, vi 256 (1900). 



