ABIES EXCELSA. 
! 5 
upon an open gravelly soil, where the roots had a supply of water oozing through the gravel. Upon 
another part of the estate were trees of good size growing upon a deep mossy soil which rested upon 
a bed of sand. These last-mentioned trees grew most rapidly, the situation being on a sloping brae, 
and the roots having the advantage of a constant supply of water as it oozed up into the moss out 
ol the sand below. He speaks of a stiff clay, drained from surface-water, producing trees 50 feet 
high, and 18 inches diameter at bottom, at 38 years of age; the trees being still in a vigorous healthy 
state, and likely to become of larger dimensions. 
Again, at the same elevation as that upon which the trees last mentioned were growing— 
namely, 700 feet above the level of the sea—he found Spruce Firs of the same age, but growing 
upon a dry gravelly soil, generally not more than 30 feet high, from 8 to 12 inches diameter at 
bottom, and, in general, rotten in the heart; which seems to shew that the Spruce Fir, in a high site 
as well as in a low, prospers much better upon a somewhat dampish soil than upon a dry one. Again, 
in the younger plantations, situated about 900 feet above the level of the sea, he found the same 
qualifications of soil relative to the tree hold good. At the elevation last mentioned he could point 
out Spruce Firs rotten at heart, and not more than twenty years old; and that upon a dry 
gravelly soil. Similar experiences could be narrated by almost every one who has planted. 
With regard to moss or peat, Mr Brown gives the following experiences: 
“ Relative to moss land of a purely vegetable character, I have seen at Scone, in Perthshire, Scots Pines growing well upon it, as also Spruce 
P ii and Larch for a time; but as soon as the two last-mentioned sorts arrive at above thirty years old they begin to decay in the heart, and con¬ 
sequently decrease in value. I have lately seen very large enclosures planted on land of a purely vegetable character, and find that wherever it is 
of a well-decomposed description, and has been well drained, the crop succeeds well, whether that be Scots Pine or Spruce Fir : but, generally 
speaking, the crops on such land do not attain large dimensions, nor live to the usual age of the species as found growing on land more congenial 
to their nature.”— The Forester , p. 542. 
The explanation of the different success of different plantations in peat soil is undoubtedly that 
to which Mr Brown ascribes it—viz., the more or less completeness of the drainage. When the 
trees have the spongioles of their roots constantly in water, they will decay; and it often happens that 
the surface of such soil is moderately dry, while a foot or so below it the water stands. By about thirty 
years of age the roots reach this depth, and then of course decay. 
Mr Brown specifies Scots Fir, and the Norway Spruce, Willows, and Birch, as first in order as 
trees adapted for growing upon moss soil to a useful size. He also takes pains to shew the profit that he 
thinks may be realised per acre out of properly-managed plantations. We are far from endorsing the 
sanguine view he takes of the subject, by which he makes out that the net value yielded by an acre of 
Larch in sixty years should be 70509, 17s. qd.; but as he contrasts the returns which he thinks might 
be made from Larch, Scots Fir, and Spruce, and is impartially, although unequally, sanguine about them 
all, we may avail ourselves of his comparative results, as affording an approximation indicative of their 
relative commercial value. According to these, the average value of an acre of Scots Fir at the end of 
eighty years may be taken at ^300, and of Spruce Fir at about £260. The relative annual value 
of the crop of Larch, Scots Fir, and Spruce would, according to these data, be as 8, 4, and 3, viz.:— 
Larch, ....... about £8 per acre. 
Scots Fir, ....... „ 4 „ 
Spruce, ....... „ 3 
He adds that the reason of the inferiority of the Scots Fir and Spruce is, that they are not so much 
sought after in the young state as the Larch is, both being much inferior in the value of their wood till 
of full age, and that even then the Larch sells at one-fourth more than either of them. 
Where the Spruce has space, is growing in suitable soil, and is protected from cattle, it some¬ 
times extends itself, by the lowest branches resting on the ground and forming natural layers, which take 
root. A remarkable instance of this is recorded in the “ Gardeners’ Magazine” (vol. xiii. p. 249), by 
[ 24 ] h Mr 
