144 



SYLVA SCOTICA. 



THE SILVER FIR AT ROSENEATH. 



The Silver Female Fir is the most beauteous and 

 graceful of all its numerous tribe. It is common in 

 the mountainous parts of Scotland, where, as Evelyn 

 justly observes, " are trees of wonderful altitude, 

 which grow upon places so inaccessible and far from 

 the sea, that, as one says, they seem to be planted 

 by God on purpose for nurseries of seed, and moni- 

 tors to our industry; reserved, with other blessings, 

 to be discovered in our days, amongst the new- 

 invented improvements of husbandry, not known to 

 our southern people of this nation. Did we consider 

 the pains they take to bring them out of the Alps, 

 we should less stick at the difficulty of transporting 

 them from the utmost parts of Scotland." 



The Silver Fir represented in the plate, is the pro- 

 perty of his Grace the Duke of Argyll. It is about 

 ninety feet in height. In girth it is twenty-two feet 

 four inches at one foot from the ground, and seven- 

 teen feet five inches at five feet from the ground. 

 Its solid contents are estimated at six hundred and 

 nineteen cubic feet ten inches ; but this calculation 

 is probably only an approximation to the truth. The 

 age of the tree is unknown : the introduction of the 

 Silver Fir into Scotland is however commonly un- 

 derstood to have taken place two hundred and 



