PINETUM DANlCUMc 



447 



Lake Bigier, in lat. 39^ 30' N. and long. 120° 15^ W. ('^Pinetum 

 Britannicum "). 



T. Mertensiana, Carr. Conif. ed. 2, 250. Pinus Mertensiana, 

 Bong. Yeg. de Sitka, 45, P. canadensis, Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. ii. 

 164. AMes Mertensiana, Lindl. and Gord, Journ. Hort. Soc, v. 211. 

 A. taxifolia, JefFr. ex Murr. A. Bridgesi, Kellog. in Proo. Calif. 

 Acad, of Nat. Sc. ii. 37. A. Alhertiana, Murr. Syn. var. Conif, 9. 

 Tsuga canadensis var. Mertensiana, Newb. ex Zabel in Forstl. Blatt. 

 ix. Jahrg. s, 209, 210. 



Habitat. — Alaska, south along the islands and coast of British 

 Columbia, and through the Selkirk, Gold, and other interior ranges 

 to the Bitter Boot Mountains of Idaho, and the western slopes of 

 the Rocky Mountains of Montana (valley of the Flathead River, 

 Canby and Sargent), extending south along the Cascade Mountains 

 to Southern Oregon, and in the coast ranges to Marin County, 

 California, between 1,000 and 4,000 feet elevation. 



A large tree, 100-200 feet in height, with a trunk 4-10 feet 

 in diameter ; low, moist bottoms or rocky ridges ; very common, 

 and reaching its greatest development, in Western Oregon and 

 Washington Territory, often forming extensive forests, especially 

 along the western base of the Cascade Mountains. 



Wood light, hard, not strong, rather close-grained ; bands of small 

 summer cells thin, not conspicuous ; medullary rays numerous, promi- 

 nent ; colour light brown tinged with yellow, the sapwood nearly white ; 

 specific gravity, 0*5182; ash, 0*42; occasionally manufactured into 

 coarse lumber. The bark, rich in tannin, is the principal material used 

 on the north-west coast in tanning leather (C. S. Sargent, "Forest 

 Trees of North America "). 



This graceful Conifer, with its drooping branches and delicate 

 feathery sprays of foliage silvered on the under side, is one of the most 

 ornamental that has yet found its way into this country. The foliage 

 is much admired, j)articularly in early summer, when each twig is 

 terminated with a tuft of golden-green leaves surmounted by the 

 darker green of the previous year. The whole contour of Prince 

 Albert's Fir, particularly when grown in suitable soil — a peaty loam — 

 is gracefully irregular, the long and lithe branches and pendulous 

 branchlets im.parting a refined air that never fails to attract attention. 



For lawn and park planting it is in much request, and may be 

 described as the most beautiful of its class. As a timber tree, how- 

 ever, it is not likely to attract much attention, at least in Great 

 Britain, although, as exhibited at the Forestry Exhibition in Edinburgh, 

 the wood seemed of excellent quality, and thanks are due to the 

 forester to the Right Hon. T. Inglis, of Glencorse, Midlothian, for 

 the practical way in which the timber was tested for fencing posts. 

 One of those exhibited had been in the ground five years, and appeared 

 to be little the worse. The upward annual growth of this Spruce is 



