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94 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
*<br />
Sargent says its growth is very rapid, <strong>the</strong> leading shoots <strong>of</strong> young <strong>trees</strong> on<br />
Puget Sound being <strong>of</strong>ten 3 to 4 feet long.<br />
John Muir measured a tree in Washington 180 feet high, at 240 years old,<br />
with a trunk 4 feet 6 inches diameter. Ano<strong>the</strong>r near Vancouver, B.C., only 48 years<br />
old, had a trunk 3 feet in diameter.<br />
In Alaska, German measured two <strong>trees</strong> one grown in a dense wood, well pro<br />
tected from wind, was 160 feet high, at 267 years old, with a diameter <strong>of</strong> 3 feet<br />
11 inches; and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r on a hillside exposed to fierce north-east gales, was 4^ feet<br />
in diameter at 14 feet from <strong>the</strong> ground, and 434 years old. The heart <strong>of</strong> this tree<br />
was 32 inches from <strong>the</strong> south-west side, and only 16^ inches from <strong>the</strong> north-east side,<br />
showing <strong>the</strong> effect <strong>of</strong> prevalent winds on <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> branches and wood.<br />
A tree measured by Muir at Wrangel, Alaska, was no less than 764 years old,<br />
with a trunk 5 feet in diameter, and this, I think, is <strong>the</strong> <strong>great</strong>est age to which any<br />
recorded spruce has attained.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Though discovered in Puget Sound in May 1792 by Archibald Menzies, who<br />
was surgeon and naturalist to Vancouver's expedition, it was not introduced to<br />
cultivation until 1831 by David Douglas, and was described by Lindley under <strong>the</strong><br />
name <strong>of</strong> Abies Menziesi one year after Bongard had made it known to science under<br />
<strong>the</strong> specific name which we adopt. It is, however, still commonly known in Great<br />
Britain as Menzies' spruce, and his name it may well bear. According to Loudon,<br />
only a very few plants were raised in <strong>the</strong> Horticultural Society's Garden in <strong>the</strong> year<br />
1832, <strong>of</strong> which some still survive.<br />
The Oregon Association, which was formed a little later by a few Scottish<br />
arboriculturists for <strong>the</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> introducing <strong>the</strong> conifers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pacific coast,<br />
and who sent out John Jeffrey as a collector about 1850, were fortunate in<br />
procuring a large quantity <strong>of</strong> seed, from which <strong>the</strong> pineta <strong>of</strong> Scotland and England<br />
have been stocked, and it has now become a common tree.<br />
CULTIVATION<br />
Though Menzies' spruce loves a wet climate, it loves a wet soil even more, and<br />
soon becomes unsightly and loses its foliage in dry localities. No conifer, except<br />
perhaps <strong>the</strong> Douglas fir, grows so rapidly where it has a suitable situation, and in<br />
some parts <strong>of</strong> Scotland it is now being planted experimentally as a forest tree.<br />
It is easily raised, ei<strong>the</strong>r from home-grown or imported seed, and is, like all<br />
spruces, slow <strong>of</strong> growth for <strong>the</strong> first few years, and requires at least five or six in <strong>the</strong><br />
nursery before it is large enough to plant out.<br />
At Durris, in Aberdeenshire, on <strong>the</strong> property <strong>of</strong> Mr. H. R. Baird, <strong>the</strong>re is a<br />
plantation <strong>of</strong> Sitka spruce about 15 acres in extent, <strong>of</strong> which Mr. John Crozier, <strong>the</strong><br />
forester in charge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> estate, gives us <strong>the</strong> following particulars in a letter dated<br />
12th September 1904 :<br />
Picea 95<br />
"The plantation occurs at an altitude <strong>of</strong> 700 to 800 feet, <strong>the</strong> aspect being<br />
nor<strong>the</strong>rly, soil a sandy peat over boulder clay. The age <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> plantation is twenty-<br />
five years; but <strong>the</strong>re is no record ei<strong>the</strong>r as to <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> plants put out or<br />
<strong>the</strong> age when planted. They were, however, notched in, and <strong>the</strong>ir age would most<br />
probably be four years. They were planted ra<strong>the</strong>r irregularly, <strong>the</strong> distance varying<br />
from 6 to 9 feet, and both common spruce and Scots fir have been used to fill up<br />
between, to 3 feet between each plant. The average height <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sitka <strong>trees</strong> is<br />
about 33 feet; and <strong>the</strong> girth at 5 feet taken at random is (where <strong>the</strong>y had been<br />
planted 9 feet apart), 24 in., 22 in., 20 in., 25 in., 22 in., 22 in., 28 in., 22 in., 26 in.,<br />
25 in. The largest common spruces I could find on <strong>the</strong> same ground measured 9 in.,<br />
8 in., r r in., 9 in., 11 in., 12 in., 16 in., 9 in., 10 in., 12 in., and <strong>the</strong>ir height was about<br />
26 feet. I took <strong>the</strong> measurement <strong>of</strong> a hundred Sitkas over a track 20 feet broad, just<br />
as <strong>the</strong>y came, and <strong>the</strong>y averaged 22f in. Where <strong>the</strong> Sitkas had been planted at<br />
6 feet apart, <strong>the</strong> common spruce and Scots fir are dominated, and <strong>the</strong> <strong>great</strong>er part <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>m quite dead. I drained some very wet parts a year ago, where both <strong>the</strong> Scots<br />
fir and common spruce had been killed through excess <strong>of</strong> moisture, but <strong>the</strong> Sitka had<br />
been very little harmed by it. Judging by what I have seen <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tree here and<br />
elsewhere, it will stand a <strong>great</strong>er degree <strong>of</strong> moisture than any o<strong>the</strong>r conifer I know.<br />
The plantation is altoge<strong>the</strong>r in a very healthy state."<br />
A few hundred Menzies' spruces were planted out in 1879 on <strong>the</strong> mountain at<br />
Bronydd, on <strong>the</strong> property <strong>of</strong> Lord Penrhyn in North Wales, at 900 feet elevation ;<br />
according to Mr. Richards, <strong>the</strong> forester, only half a dozen <strong>trees</strong> now survive, in a<br />
wretched condition. He states, however, that as <strong>the</strong> young growths come out late in<br />
<strong>the</strong> spring <strong>the</strong> tree is never touched by frost in North Wales. At Penrhyn <strong>the</strong>re is<br />
a good specimen <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tree measuring 10 feet 6 inches in girth in 1904.<br />
Menzies' spruce, 1 on account <strong>of</strong> its sharp needles, has been supposed to be free<br />
from <strong>the</strong> attacks <strong>of</strong> deer, rabbits, and hares; but recent observations made in <strong>the</strong><br />
royal domain <strong>of</strong> Freyr in Belgium show that out <strong>of</strong> 10,000 plants introduced some<br />
years ago only 2000 remain, and <strong>the</strong>se are not expected to survive long. This is<br />
much to be regretted, as <strong>the</strong>y had grown splendidly.<br />
REMARKABLE TREES<br />
One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> largest <strong>trees</strong> we know <strong>of</strong> in <strong>the</strong> south <strong>of</strong> England is at Highclere,<br />
Berks, <strong>the</strong> seat <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Earl <strong>of</strong> Carnarvon, where we measured a tree in August<br />
1903 which was 96 feet by 12 feet. The tree, having lost its lower branches<br />
owing to a heavy snow-storm, has put out new branches down <strong>the</strong> trunk, a<br />
somewhat rare occurrence in large conifers. Ano<strong>the</strong>r very fine tree is growing<br />
at Barton, Suffolk, which was planted in 1847, and when measured by Henry in<br />
1904 was 99 feet by 9 feet 3 inches. Both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se are in a dry climate but in a<br />
good soil.<br />
At Bicton, Devonshire, I measured a tree in 1902 which was 85 feet by n feet<br />
1 Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belgique, April 1 901.