With regard to the future of the Douglas fir forests it is very hard to say to what extent or for what period the present supply will last. Axe and fire are certainly destroying them at a great rate, but the reproduction all over the coast region is so good, and the danger of fire in dense young growths of trees so small, that many places cleared twenty to forty years ago are already covered with healthy young trees; and though the size and quality of these will probably never equal those of the virgin forests, yet there is no reason why, with reasonable care, the forests should be devastated as they are now. On the drier mountains of the interior, the danger of destruction is greater; and it seems to me that whilst Douglas pine is the dominant tree of the coast region, Pinus ponderosa, owing to its thicker bark and greater adaptability to dry soils and climates, will replace it in the interior.
Introduction
The Douglas fir was discovered by Menzies at Nootka Sound in 1797. Seeds were, however, first sent home by Douglas in 1827, from which plants were raised by the Horticultural Society of London and distributed throughout the country. According to a note by Mr. Frost* the tree at Dropmore, which is usually considered to be the oldest in England, was raised from seed sown by himself in the winter of 1827-1828.
Cultivation
The best account? of the cultivation of Douglas fir yet written is by Mr. Crozier, forester on the Durris estate in Kincardineshire, who has paid special attention to this tree, and is one of the most experienced foresters in Scotland. He prefers to collect home-grown seed, and considers that much may be done to improve the type of the tree commercially, by selection of the best varieties as seed- bearers ; and states that the production of seed in good years is enormous, no less than 15,000 cones having been counted on an outlying specimen tree about 4o years old.
The seed ripens about the beginning of October, when the cones should be gathered without delay before the seed escapes. After storage in a dry loft through the winter, the cones are exposed to sun heat, which causes them to shed the seed. In the beginning of May the seed is sown in beds 3 to 34 feet wide, one pound being allowed to every 8 or 1o yards. The seedlings are transplanted at two years old, and Mr. Crozier prefers to plant them out in the month of April one year later by notching, or if the ground is liable to be covered with bracken or herbage, by pitting in plants a year older.
So far as my own observations go this tree will not grow well on clay or on the oolite formation, but it thrives on greensand, and on sandstone of the Llandovery group at Tortworth. If desired to grow to a large size, it should be planted ina well-sheltered situation, where the soil is of sufficient depth and fertility to keep the trees growing for a long period, but in exposed situations the tops are ruined by the
1 Gard. Chron. 1871, p. 1360.
2 Trans. Roy. Scot. Arb. Soc. xxi. 31 (1908).
