"The plantation occurs at an altitude of 700 to 800 feet, the aspect being northerly, soil a sandy peat over boulder clay. The age of the plantation is twentyfive years; but there is no record either as to the number of the plants put out or the age when planted. They were, however, notched in, and their age would most probably be four years. They were planted rather irregularly, the distance varying from 6 to 9 feet, and both common spruce and Scots fir have been used to fill up between, to 3 feet between each plant. The average height of the Sitka trees is about 33 feet; and the girth at 5 feet taken at random is (where they had been planted 9 feet apart), 24 in., 22 in., 20 in., 25 in., 22 in., 22 in., 28 in., 22 in., 26 in., 25 in. The largest common spruces I could find on the same ground measured 9 in., 8 in., 11 in., 9 in., 11 in., 12 in., 16 in., 9 in., 10 in., 12 in., and their height was about 26 feet. I took the measurement of a hundred Sitkas over a track 20 feet broad, just as they came, and they averaged 22¾ in. Where the Sitkas had been planted at 6 feet apart, the common spruce and Scots fir are dominated, and the greater part of them quite dead. I drained some very wet parts a year ago, where both the Scots fir and common spruce had been killed through excess of moisture, but the Sitka had been very little harmed by it. Judging by what I have seen of the tree here and elsewhere, it will stand a greater degree of moisture than any other conifer I know. The plantation is altogether in a very healthy state."
A few hundred Menzies' spruces were planted out in 1879 on the mountain at Bronydd, on the property of Lord Penrhyn in North Wales, at 900 feet elevation; according to Mr. Richards, the forester, only half a dozen trees now survive, in a wretched condition. He states, however, that as the young growths come out late in the spring the tree is never touched by frost in North Wales. At Penrhyn there is a good specimen of the tree measuring 10 feet 6 inches in girth in 1904.
Menzies' spruce,[1] on account of its sharp needles, has been supposed to be free from the attacks of deer, rabbits, and hares; but recent observations made in the royal domain of Freyr in Belgium show that out of 10,000 plants introduced some years ago only 2000 remain, and these are not expected to survive long. This is much to be regretted, as they had grown splendidly.
Remarkable Trees
One of the largest trees we know of in the south of England is at Highclere, Berks, the seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, where we measured a tree in August
1903 which was 96 feet by 12 feet. The tree, having lost its lower branches owing to a heavy snow-storm, has put out new branches down the trunk, a somewhat rare occurrence in large conifers. Another very fine tree is growing at Barton, Suffolk, which was planted in 1847, and when measured by Henry in 1904 was 99 feet by 9 feet 3 inches. Both of these are in a dry climate but in a good soil.
At Bicton, Devonshire, I measured a tree in 1902 which was 85 feet by 11 feet
- ↑ Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belgique, April 1901.
