OF FOREST-TREES. 295 



but the top must neither be bruised, nor much less cut, which would cH. XXII. 

 dwarf it for ever : one kind also will take of slips or layers^ interred '"■^'y^^ 

 about the latter end of August, and kept moist. 



3. The best time to transplant, were in the beginning of April ; they 

 will thrive mainly in a stiff, hungry clay, or rather loam ; but by no 



ventqre to point out the exact age, which in these old Firs, comes to an amazing 

 " number of years. I lately pitched upon a tree of two feet and a half diameter, which 

 " is near the size of a planted Fir of fifty years of age, and I counted exactly two hundred 

 " and fourteen circles or coats, which makes this natural Fir above four times the age 

 " of the planted one. Now as to planted Firs, these are raised first in dressed ground 

 " from the seed, where they stgnd two seasons or more ; they are then planted out in the 

 " ground they are to continue in at regular distances, so have a clear circumference round 

 " them for extending both roots and branches. The one gives too quick nourishment to 

 " the tree which shoots out in luxuriant growth, and the other allows many of the branches 

 " to spread horizontally, spoiling the timber with knots ; besides, this quick growth 

 " occasions these thick yearly circular coats of wood, which form a coarse grain 

 " of a spongy soft nature. The juices never after ripen, into a proportional quantity, 

 " their resinous preservative balm ; so that the plantations decay before the wood acquires 

 " age, or a valuable size ; and the timber, when used in work, has neither strength, 

 " beauty, nor duration. I believe the climate has likewise a great share in forming the 



nature of the best wood, which I account for in the following manner : The most moun- 

 " tainous parts of the Highlands, particularly the northerly hanging situations, where these 

 " fine Fir-trees are, have a much shorter time of vegetation than a more southerly exposure, 

 *' or the lower open countries, being shaded by high hills from the rays of the sun, even 

 " at mid-day, for months together ; so that with regard to other vegetables, nature visibly 

 " continues longer in a torpid state there than in other places of the same latitude. This 

 " dead state of nature for so long a time yearly, appears to me necessary to form the 

 " strength and health of this particular species of timber. No doubt they may at first 

 " show a gratefidness for better soil and more sun, by shooting out spontaneously ; but if the 

 " plant or tree is so altered by this luxury, that it cannot attain any degree of perfection fit 



for the purposes intended, the attempt certainly proves in vain. 



" From what is said above, it is not at all my intention to dissuade from planting Scotch 

 " Fir, but to encourage those that have the proper soil and situation to do so ; being of 

 "opinion that where these circumstances agree, and there, planting not in lines, but 

 " irregularly and thicker than common, the trees will come to be of equal size and value 

 " with the natural ones. In confidence of this, I have planted several millions on the sides 

 " of hills, out of the reach of seed from the natural Firs. 



" As to the Larch, it grows in this country, in great abundance, from the seed of our 

 own plantations. I have found this beautiful and hardy tree to answer extremely well 

 " when planted out, on barren grounds, from six inches to six feet high ; and they are 



