"From many observations made in the zone of the hemlock and lovely fir, it is apparent that these trees, from their ability to thrive under the most adverse conditions, are rapidly superseding the others, and will, under natural conditions, be the sole components of the alpine forests. It is a striking fact that, upon many areas where from 50 to 100 per cent of the present forest is red fir (Douglas), the reproduction is entirely hemlock and lovely fir. Should these forests be destroyed by fire it is probable that red fir would rival these species in restocking the burn; but under natural conditions it is evident that the red fir will be displaced, and the limits of the alpine trees become much lower than at present.
'The yellow pine (P. ponderosa), in some instances, does good work in stocking open spots in the timber, but seldom extends far beyond the parent tree. In the yellow pine forests most of the young growth is red or white fir (A. grandis), which, taking advantage of the shade and moisture afforded by the yellow pine cover, is growing rapidly, and will in time form a larger percentage of the forest than it has in the past."
I can confirm this from my own observation both in the Cascade Forest and in Vancouver's Island. The seedlings germinate most freely when they fall on the moss-covered rotting trunk of a fallen tree, along which a complete row of young trees often grows; and Plate 59, vol. i. shows a tree of this species, probably 150 years old, whose roots had completely enclosed the still sound trunk of a red cedar (Thuya plicata). A valuable paper[1] by Mr. E.T. Allen, dealing with the western hemlock from a forestry point of view, has been published by the U.S. Bureau of Forestry.
Cultivation
It was introduced in 1851 by Jeffrey, and named in 1863 by Murray, at the request of Queen Victoria, in memory of the late Prince Consort, who was a patron of the Oregon Association, and President of the Royal Horticultural Society.[2]
In grace, freedom of growth, and adaptability to varied conditions of culture, in England this, as an ornamental tree, is second to none, and much superior to any other hemlock. Though it has been in cultivation little over fifty years it has already attained a height of about 90 feet in such widely distant counties as Kent, Devonshire, and Perthshire.
The only soils on which it will not thrive are chalk, limestone, and heavy clay, and though it enjoys all the moisture that the wettest parts of England afford, it wants, like all its congeners, a well-drained soil and a sheltered situation.
It ripens seed abundantly in England, and has sown itself in several localities, especially at Blackmoor, the seat of the Earl of Selborne, where there are several self-sown trees, of which the best, growing on the lower greensand formation, is, at about fifteen years old, 10 to 12 feet high, though the parent trees do not exceed about 65 feet.
In Fulmodestone Wood, on Lord Leicester's estate in Norfolk, I have also seen self-sown seedlings; and though they are very slow in growth for the first four or five
