172 THE PINE TREE. 
trees were much older and smaller, consequently their wood 
was closer and of superior quality. 
“T was directed to a part of the forest which stands about 
seven miles south of the Spey, as affording the best specimens 
of large trees, many of which I measured close above the 
swell of the roots, or about the height of one foot from the 
surface, at which the largest were from 10 to upwards of 13 
feet in circumference, and at the height of eight feet from the 
ground from 9 to 12 feet, tapering with clean trunks to -the 
height of from 20 to 35 feet, and shooting up to the entire 
height of from 40 to 65 feet. These very old trees stand on 
low and level ground on the side of the Nethy ; but perhaps 
the finest tree in this forest stands on a steep hill-side adjoin- 
ing, though not highly situated, which measures in circum- 
ference, at the height of one foot from the surface, 13 feet 3 
inches ; and at eight feet high 12 feet. It tapers to 32 feet 
of trunk, its whole height being about 50 feet, with a top 
branching like an oak, to which all the large trees in point of 
form bear a strong resemblance. A few yards distant from 
this tree one of similar dimensions had lately been felled ; 
the stump and roots remaining to indicate its size. The 
annual rings of this root indicate the age of 242 years, and 
that of the top 224. The top lay at the distance of 27 feet 
from the root, and I imagine that the tree had grown about 
that length in eighteen years, that being the number of years 
intervening between the ages of the root and top. Several 
others had been felled of nearly the same size, which had 
almost attained the age of 200 years. I observed from the 
size of the interior layers that the trees had rapidly advanced 
in growth between the ages of 8 and 70, the growth having 
afterwards diminished, and eventually the outside layers, 
although distinct enough to be numbered, are very minute, 
and the whole timber is equally strong, hard, and red, to 
within less than an inch of the bark. Many of them had 
been thrown down by the great flood of 1829, the stumps of 
which still remain, and show that the roots had derived all 
their nourishment from the surface soil, none of them being 
