THE TIMBER OF EXOTIC CONIFERS. 



those who will at once begin to plant on a large scale the trees 

 named. 



It may not be amiss for me to say a word about the planting 

 of one or two varieties, because the success or otherwise of that 

 operation has a marked effect on the quantity and quality of the 

 timber produced. 



If my advice were asked by the owners of large, or even small, 

 woods and plantations that have become "blanky " through the 

 injurious action of the winds and other causes — conditions very 

 common in the woods throughout Scotland — I should at once 

 advise the planting of these spaces with those beautiful trees 

 Cttpressus Laiusoniana, Abies Alhertiana, and Thuya gigantea. 

 I need not here enter into reasons for such advice further than 

 to say that these trees of all others are pre-eminently suited for 

 such work. For pitwood alone these trees are invaluable. In, 

 say, twenty-five years an acre of these would be worth about £60, 

 planted as above or even in forests by themselves. In this 

 respect they would on a given area, in a given time, exceed the 

 value of the best Larch. The great drawback at present is the 

 cost of the plants. Unlike other commodities, however, demand 

 in this case would cheapen the article. 



What I advocate here about Gupressus Lawsoiiiana, Abies 

 Albertiana, and Thuya gigantea is no mere theory. In 1886 I 

 bought a quantity of the above plants, described in the catalogue 

 as from 2^ to 3 feet, and a few Picea grandis (Douglas) 3 feet. 

 I planted these where the winds of the previous winter had 

 uprooted all the trees. At the present moment many of those 

 plants are 16 feet high, having a diameter of over 6 inches 

 at one foot from the ground, nearly every tree having a 6-foot 

 length suitable for common pitwood. In some cases they are 

 planted at less than 9 feet apart, in others more. Under the 

 above treatment Cttpressus Lawsoniana produces more timber 

 than P. grandis, althougli the latter is quite as tall, but it will 

 not bear crowding, while the other varieties will stand quite 

 thickly together without harming each other. A quality possessed 

 by the Cupressus Laiusoniana and the other two trees I have 

 named is that crowding makes their timber of better quality, 

 while the quantity produced does not seem to be appreciably 

 diminished. The three are undoubtedly shelter-loving trees, and 



