46 JOlJRNAL 01* THE ROYAL HORTldULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cut from trees with a girth of nearly 9 feet at a yard from the 

 ground. Planks that were used for several purposes both in and 

 out of doors have stood a test of nine years in such a manner as 

 to give one the impression that few of our home-grown coniferous 

 woods can equal that of the Pine in question. The Corsican 

 Pine can withstand long-continued and cold blasts at high alti- 

 tudes in an exemplary way, as note those in a plantation of 

 forty acres extent that I had planted at nearly 1,000 feet alti- 

 tude on a spur of the Snowdon range of hills ; those at Blair 

 Athol, in Perthshire, at 700 feet; in Yorkshire, one of the 

 most barren and wind-swept of English counties, as well as on 

 Lord Powerscourt's estate, where it has been most favourably 

 reported on by that veteran arboriculturist. At Chester, also, 

 the specimens planted by Messrs. Dicksons, which I saw 

 about a week ago, have in a given time produced a large quan- 

 tity of valuable timber, as well as having withstood the fully 

 exposed situation satisfactorily. In summing up, it may be said 

 that the Corsican Pine is perfectly hardy, peculiarly well suited 

 for planting in exposed situations, a rapid and valuable timber- 

 producer, a tree that is cheaply and easily raised from seed, and 

 one of the most non-exacting Conifers as regards choice of soil 

 that could be named — all qualities of the highest value in a 

 timber-producing tree, and such as are rarely so well concentrated 

 in any other species. 



The Prussian Government has introduced it extensively into 

 the State forests, while in France extensive plantations of the 

 Laricio have been made. 



(4) The Douglas Fir {Pseudotsuga Douglasii) is, in certain 

 situations, a valuable timber-producing tree ; but to grow it to 

 perfection rich alluvial soil and sheltered valleys are quite a 

 necessity. Had we the cartons and deep hilly gorges of some of 

 the States of North America, there can be no doubt that the 

 Douglas Fir, from its suitability to our climate generally, would 

 be perhaps the most valuable timber-producing tree that we 

 could plant. In this country, under peculiarly favourable cir- 

 cumstances, I have known the Douglas Fir to produce '2-iO feet 

 of timber in fifty years, or nearly 5 feet per year for half a century. 

 The tree here referred to as having produced this almost 

 fabulous quantity of wood is still growing at Penrhyn Castle, 

 in North Wales, and as the notes and measurements were all 



