( ^6 ) 



CHAPTER I. 



BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS KINDS OF TREES, 

 WHOSE CULTURE IS DESCRIBED IN THIS WORK. 



SCOTS FIR. 



One of the trees most commonly to be met with 

 in Scotland, is that species of Pinus which takes its 

 name from the country, viz. the Scots Fir*. This 

 tree is a native of the British Islands, to which it is 

 common with all the Northern Regions of Europe 

 and Asia, being one of those plants which will 

 grow in almost any degree of cold, short of per- 

 petual snow. On soils of a fertile character it is 

 short lived, but on more barren land, such as we find 

 in mountainous districts, it attains an age of at least 

 two centuries. The excellence of its timber is in 

 proportion to the slowness of its growth, and to its 

 age ; it being always found of inferior quality, when 

 produtied on rich land, or when cut before it is fifty 

 or sixty years old. 



Till very lately, there was considered to be only 

 one variety of the Scots fir, but an opinion has re- 



* Pinus scotica of Thouin ; P. sylvestris of Linnaeus. 



