complaining that it creates a tiresome monotony. It is quite true that a
plantation of Scots pines of middle age is not an interesting subject of
contemplation, except to foresters. Nevertheless, it is half-way to what
may become one of the most impressive scenes in nature. The most
beautiful tract of Scots pine forest I have ever seen is that which
clothes the slopes of the Wishart Burn, near Gordon Castle. This was
planted about 180 to 190 years ago, and it is evident that the trees
have gone through strict discipline of close company in early life, for
their trunks are lofty, perfectly clean and even, carrying their girth
well up to the branches at 50 or 60 feet from the ground. The tallest
tree measured by Mr. Elwes in this wood seven years ago was about 117
feet high, with a girth at breast height of 1 inch short of 11 feet. He
estimated that it contained 345 cubic feet of timber. Many of the trees
in this wood have been felled; but there remain about sixty to the
acre--say, 6000 cubic feet per acre. They would be easily saleable
standing at 6d. a foot, or £150 per acre.
As for landscape beauty, it would be difficult to imagine a fairer
woodland scene than is composed by this company of aged pines. They do
not stand so close now as to prevent one "seeing the wood for the
trees"; the sun rays penetrate freely among the stately stems, which
have that peculiar bloom of pearly rose that distinguishes the bark of
old Scots pine. Aloft, the light flashes on the brighter hue of ruddy
boughs supporting the massive foliage; below, the undulating ground,
steep and rocky in places, is clothed with bilberry, fern, and other
lowly growth. There is nothing gloomy or dreary in the scene, which he
who visits it will not readily forget.
In Gaelic the name for the pine is _giuthas_ (pronounced "gewuss," with
a hard _g_). As is usual in the case of native trees, this word may be
identified in many place-names both in Scotland and Ireland; albeit,
sometimes pretty well disguised in modern orthography. Guisachan and
Kingussie may be recognised pretty easily, the latter being _cinn
giuthasaich_--"at the end or head of the pine wood"; but it requires
some smattering of Gaelic speech to avoid the ornithological suggestion
conveyed in the name Loch Goosie, in Kirkcudbright, and to interpret it
correctly as "the loch of the pine wood."
I have remarked above that a mature Scots pine has no rival in beauty in
the genus, and indeed the charming outline, blue-green foliage, ruddy
branches and roseate grey trunk of a well-grown Scot of 150 years'
growth can admit no superior in comeliness; but, on second thoughts, I
must admit that it has a dangerous competitor in the Monterey pine (_P.
radiata_ syn. _insignis_). Native of an extremely limited range on the
Californian coast, the first seedlings were raised in England in 1833.
There are now several specimens recorded as over 100 feet in height. In
rapidity of growth it excels all other pines, at least in the moist
climate of the British Isles. One which I planted in 1884 at Monreith
was blown down in 1911, and was found to be 61 feet 6 inches in height,
with a girth of 5 feet 4 inches, certainly a remarkable growth in 27
years. If the timber were of a quality proportioned to the rapidity with
which it is produced, the Monterey pine would indeed be a valuable tree,
but our experience of it in this country differs in no respect from
Sargent's report, viz. "Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle,
close-grained." If it were grown in sufficient quantity it might prove
good for pulping, but it is of no other economic value. Moreover, this
pine is only suitable for the milder parts of the United Kingdom--the
south and west coasts of Great Britain and the whole of Ireland. Almost
the only exception known to me is a tree at Keir, in Perthshire, which
in 1905 was about 70 feet high, with a girth of 11 feet. This must be an
individual of exceptional hardihood, for in most inland districts,
except in Ireland, the Monterey pine has succumbed to frost. In maritime
districts it is a most desirable tree, affording splendid shelter and
gladdening the eye with its rich foliage of deep but brilliant green and
rugged, massive trunk.
To describe, however briefly, all the exotic pines that have been
successfully grown in the British Isles would fill a volume in itself. I
cannot do more or better than refer the reader who desires the fullest
information about them to the great work of Elwes and Henry wherein all
particulars are given of about fifty different species. Yet I cannot
refrain from mentioning one European species which I regard as qualified
in large measure to supplant the Scots pine as a commercial asset in
British woodland. I refer to the Corsican pine (_P. laricio_) and its
varieties which, despite the insular title popularly given to the tree,
cover a range extending from southern France and Spain to the Caucasus.
Among these varieties, late authorities include the Austrian pine (_P.
austriaca_), which, if it be botanically identical with the Corsican, is
of very inferior merit for British planters. In extreme exposure it
forms good shelter, but its habit is coarse and roughly branching, very
different from the fine columnar growth of the Corsican. Moreover, there
is this singular distinction between the two trees--one of no slight
importance to foresters in our rodent-ridden land--that whereas hares
and rabbits greedily devour young Austrian pines, they never touch the
Corsicans; at least I have never known them injure one of tens of
thousands which I have planted, though I have heard of newly-planted
trees being attacked elsewhere under extreme stress of hard weather.
Dr. Henry has given a very full description of the pine forests of
Corsica,[17] whence it appears that, owing to the excess of sapwood, the
timber is of little value till the trees are 200 to 300 years old, at
which age the trunks average only 3 feet in diameter. A forest tree
which develops so slowly is not likely to find much favour with British
foresters; and the fact that this pine grows faster in our islands than
on its native mountains certainly does not lead one to expect a high
quality of timber. I have, however, cut poles of Corsican pine thirty
years old to support the galvanised roof of a hayshed. They averaged 8
inches in diameter at 5 feet from the ground, and were undoubtedly
larger and finer than Scots pine of the same age growing among them,
which I should never dream of using for such a purpose; but, as the shed
has only been standing for three or four years, it is too early to
regard this as a test. The merits of this pine already ascertained in
this country are resistance to wind exposure, straight and rapid growth,
and immunity from damage by ground game. These qualities render it most
valuable for planting mixed with other trees, for which purpose I
consider it superior to Scots pine. It requires, however, more
considerate nursery treatment, for its root system is straggling; and
planting out should be delayed till the middle of April and carried on
till the middle of May. Observing this rule, I have found the
percentage of loss after planting to be trifling, certainly not greater
than with Scots pine; but the results are not so satisfactory in
southern England on hot soils. The Corsican pine, however, demands all
the light it can get, being extremely impatient of shade, whether
overhead or alongside.
The great expectations formed about the Weymouth pine (_Pinus strobus_)
when it was brought to England early in the eighteenth century have not
been fulfilled. Known as the white pine of the North American lumber
trade, it received its British designation from the extent to which it
was planted by Lord Weymouth at Longleat. It is true that many fine
specimens exist in several parts of these islands, notably that which
was blown down in 1875 near Tortworth in Gloucestershire, measuring 122
feet high with 46 feet of clean bole; but as a forest tree it has never
taken high rank with us, perhaps because, generally grown as a specimen,
it has not been subjected to forest treatment, and the quality of the
timber is ruined by the uprush of a number of competing tops. It was
this habit that disfigured a Weymouth pine at Dunkeld which I measured
in 1902 and found to be 13 feet 3 inches in girth at 4 feet from the
ground, the clean bole being about 30 feet. I think this tree has since
been blown down.
Far superior to the Weymouth pine in erect habit is the Western White
pine (_P. monticola_), which, in other respects, resembles the other
very closely. This would be a most desirable tree for use as well as
ornament, but that it has proved susceptible to attacks of the
rust-fungus (_Peridermium strobi_), an organism which requires to pass
alternate generations on _Ribes_ (currant). A number of fine _P.
monticola_ in the famous woods of Murthly, some of which were over 80
feet high in 1906, have perished under the agency of this parasite. On
the west coast, however, this fungus does not seem to have made its
appearance. Of two trees of this species which I planted in 1876,
believing them to be Swiss stone pines (_P. cembra_), one is now a
straight, shapely tree 57 feet high, with a girth of 5 feet 4 inches at
5 feet from the ground; and both have produced plenty of seed whence a
large number of seedlings have been planted out.
No notice of the Pines, however fragmentary and superficial, could be
justified if it did not include a reference to the Pinaster or Cluster
Pine (_Pinus maritima_). British tourists on their journey to or from
Biarritz, Pau, etc., can scarcely fail to have noticed the immense
plantations of this tree through which the railway runs between Bayonne
and Bordeaux. For nearly 100 miles the woodland is well-nigh continuous,
consisting almost exclusively of this species, and covering an area of
nearly two million acres "perhaps" says Mr. Elwes, "the most extensive
forest ever created by the hand of man." Estimating the capital sunk in
planting, road-making, etc., since 1855 at upwards of £2,000,000, M.
Huffel put its value in 1904 at £18,000,000, the annual revenue from
timber, turpentine and resin being then more than half a million
sterling--equal to a rent of about 7s. an acre. In a wild state, the
landes thus occupied were practically worthless for agriculture.
Although the pinaster is a native of the Mediterranean region, it agrees
admirably with the soil and climate of the British Isles, thrusting its
boughs out in the teeth of severe wind exposure, growing to great height
and bulk and ripening abundant seed. Yet it is a despised tree with us,
few landowners being at pains to plant it now, although a considerable
number seem to have been planted about the end of the eighteenth century
and early in the nineteenth.
The Silver Firs
While the wide range of the English language over the globe is of
considerable advantage to commerce, and possibly to some other
interests, it is the source of some perplexity when, as in treating of
natural history or botany, precise terms have to be employed. Thus in
the United Kingdom most people know exactly what tree is meant by the
silver fir; but in the United States, with a population well on to
double that of the British Isles, the silver fir is understood to mean
quite a different species--namely, _Abies venusta_, a native of
California, not suitable for forestry purposes in this country. In like
manner, though there is no true cedar indigenous to America, there are
half-a-dozen trees there known as red cedar, white cedar, and so forth.
English, being a living language, is still fluid; meanings shift with
changes of environment; to secure precision, therefore, science must
have recourse to classical Greek and Latin, which, being dead languages,
change no more.
The group of evergreen conifers, then, collectively known as silver
firs, consists of about thirty species comprised in the genus _Abies_;
and these are most easily recognised by the position of the mature
cones, which stand erect on the branches, whereas in the other group of
true firs, the spruces (_Picea_), they are pendulous in all except two
or three Asiatic species. Another mark of distinction is the circular
base of the needle or leaf, which, when it falls or is pulled from the
branch, leaves a perfectly circular scar; while in the spruces the
leaves are set upon little pegs which remain on the twig when the leaves
fall. The grey or silvery bands on the under side of the leaf, although
it is from these that the tree is called the silver fir, are not an
exclusive badge of the genus; for some of the other firs, notably the
Manchurian spruce, display similar colouring.
The tree known in this country as the silver fir _par excellence_
(_Abies pectinata_) is the loftiest European tree. Probably the extreme
height had been attained by one grown in a Bosnian virgin forest,
measured by Mr. Elwes after it had fallen, "over 180 feet long, whose
decayed top must have been at least 15 or 20 feet more."
The silver fir is not a native of Britain, having been introduced about
the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its range extends over
southern and central Europe, from the Pyrenees on the west to the
borders of Wallachia on the east. Nevertheless, it has found a congenial
home in these islands, where, if it had ever received scientific
handling, it would have been far more highly esteemed for its timber
than it now is. Such handling we have never given it; the silver fir
has been used indiscriminately in mixed plantation, where, outstripping
every other tree in stature, it loses its leader, and sends up a number
of heads which get battered by the wind, becoming ragged and unsightly.
Now if these noble firs, instead of being scattered among trees of
inferior height, were planted in close forest, so as to be drawn up with
clean boles to a single leader, they would protect each other from the
gale. Then might be seen something of the true character of the silver
fir as it is developed in such forests as that of the Vosges, in Eastern
France, where a tract fifty miles long is clad principally with this
species, or in the Jura, where a forest of silver fir 10,600 acres in
extent yields annually 170 cubic feet of timber per acre felled. British
foresters and wood merchants set a low value on such timber as the
silver fir produces in this country; and small blame to them, because,
grown as we are in the habit of growing it, branchy and full of great
knots, it is almost worthless; but in some districts of Europe where
silver forest is well managed and felled in rotation, the deals are more
sought after and command a readier market than spruce. The thinnings
make excellent pitwood, and although, like spruce, the timber is not
naturally durable enough for outdoor purposes, it can be made so by
creosote treatment.
[Illustration: SILVER FIRS (_Abies pectinata_)]
The silver fir sows itself very freely in places where the ground
herbage is not so rank as to choke the young plants; but to allow
natural reproduction a fair chance, ground game must be rigorously
excluded, for deer, hares, and rabbits seem to regard this delicacy
in much the same light as human beings do asparagus. This tree--_Abies
pectinata_ (I must resort to Latin to distinguish it from the other
European, Asiatic, and American silvers) differs from every other member
of the genus (so far as my observation goes) in being a shade-bearer;
that is, it will grow under the shade and drip of deciduous trees, so
dense as to be fatal to the health, and generally to the life, of every
other conifer except the juniper. This renders it of almost unique
utility for under-planting, the beech being its only rival for that
purpose. It is true that the Douglas fir and the giant Thuja both stand
a considerable amount of side shade, but the silver fir thrives under
conditions of overhead drip which the others cannot suffer. One may read
in books on forestry that the Norway spruce is patient of overhead
shade; I can only say that, though I have sought diligently for an
instance of its doing so, and have seen many thousands of spruce planted
in faith of this misleading advice, I have never found a case where the
attempt has succeeded.
In planting silver firs it is important to take advantage of their power
of bearing shade, for the young trees are very susceptible of injury by
late frost, from which older and taller woodland will protect them. It
is remarkable how long and patiently the young silvers so treated will
wait for head-room--marking time, as it were, till the older crop is
cleared away, when they will go ahead and occupy the ground.
The silver fir is more exacting in the matter of climate than in that of
soil. The great forest of the Vosges is chiefly on silicious ground; but
that of the Jura, which is even finer, grows on limestone. The great
silver firs at Rosneath, probably the oldest in the United Kingdom,
stand near the sea level in deep sandy soil. They are certainly over 200
years old, the largest being about 110 feet high and 22 feet 7 inches in
girth. These trees are very massive, and branch into great heads owing
to their not having been grown under conditions of close forest. The
only rival in bulk to them is to be found at Ardkinglass, on Loch Fyne,
about 120 feet high, and estimated to contain over 1,000 cubic feet of
timber.
In many places on the south and east coasts the silver fir does not
thrive. It requires an abundant rainfall and a moist atmosphere, which
probably accounts for its inability to stand the climate of the Eastern
United States. There are, however, some fine specimens in Sussex (at
Cowdray there is, or was a few years ago, a silver fir over 130 feet
high, with a clean bole of 90 feet), and at Alnwick, in Northumberland;
but at Novar, so famous for coniferous trees, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson
has given up planting it owing to its inability to resist the attacks of
aphis. This seems to indicate a constitution impaired by climatic
influence, for insect parasites, though they certainly hasten the death
of a weakly subject, are not likely to prevail over a thoroughly
vigorous one. In Western Scotland, where, as in Ireland, the silver fir
makes grand growth, aphides swarm immediately upon any tree that has
been debilitated by late frost or other injury. On the other hand, the
Caucasian silver fir (_Abies nordmanniana_), which thrives splendidly in
many parts of Britain where the common silver cannot be grown,
frequently succumbs in the west to the attacks of aphis. At Benmore, on
the Holy Loch, about 2,000 acres were planted about forty years ago with
different kinds of conifers. I have examined the lists of the species
planted, and find that by far the largest proportion consisted of this
Caucasian fir. The forest remains, a splendid monument to its designer's
enterprise; but hardly a Caucasian fir is to be found in it. The
prevailing species are Douglas fir and giant Thuja.
Dr. Stewart M'Dougall has made some useful research, leading him to
identify the silver fir aphis with _Chermes abietis_, the spruce louse
which, as explained when treating of the larch, migrates to the larch
and produces parthenogenic generations thereon. Dr. M'Dougall traces the
silver fir louse to the same parentage. It follows from this that the
spruce is a dangerous neighbour to silver firs.
Less serious, because not hurtful to the general health of the tree, is
the "witch's broom" which forms upon the silver fir, sometimes greatly
disfiguring it. This is caused, or at all events accompanied by, a
fungus (_Æcidium elatinum_), which passes one phase of its existence
upon certain humble herbs of the Pink family, such as the mouse-ear
chickweed and sandwort.
For purposes of timber probably the common (_A. pectinata_) and the
Caucasian silver fir (_A. nordmanniana_) are the pick of the genus, but
there are also many other species of singular beauty. Their beauty,
indeed, especially in a young state, has proved somewhat of a snare,
inducing people to plant them in gardens and pleasure-grounds where they
soon outgrow their environment, and, being isolated from their kind, are
apt to send up many leaders and so forfeit their true character. Several
years ago I was staying in a country house in the south of England,
where a royal personage was paying a visit. It was arranged that the
said personage should plant a memorial tree; a site was selected on a
close-shaven lawn, and I could not but deplore the tree chosen for the
honour. It was perhaps the least majestic of all the silver tribe,
namely, the Spanish fir (_A. pinsapo_), a species which seldom responds
freely to the conditions provided in this country, and, when it does so,
is of gloomy appearance.
The largest silver fir in the world is the North American (_A.
grandis_), which in a young state might easily be mistaken for _A.
pectinata_, but soon exhibits its true nationality by the extraordinary
rapidity of its growth. It races upwards at the rate of three feet a
year, and, distancing all surrounding growth, suffers the penalty
inevitable in our stormy climate, unless it should be provided with
shelter from a sufficient company of its peers. At the Avondale School
of Forestry _A. grandis_ is reported to be less liable to injury from
spring frost than the common silver fir. No doubt there are spaces in
the wilder parts of this island where this grand tree might be grown
into splendid forest, but as an isolated specimen it can never develop
its true dimensions, which are out of all proportion to our native
woodland. The timber is neither strong nor durable; indeed, of the nine
species of North American silver firs, Professor Sargent reports
favourably in this respect upon one only, _Abies nobilis_ to wit, a tree
of which, personally, I have formed a very high opinion for the climate
of the northern and western parts of the United Kingdom. It has suffered
in reputation with many experienced planters, owing to a liability to
lose its leader when it outgrows its surroundings, as it very speedily
does; but, as in the case of the common silver fir, that is the
consequence of bad forestry; if _A. nobilis_ were planted in masses, the
trees would protect each other. No forester can look unmoved at the
group at Murthly in Perthshire, several of which are well over 100 feet
high. This fir is also exceedingly ornamental in a young state, some of
the seedlings from every sowing having foliage with a lovely glaucous
bloom. _A. magnifica_ and _A. amabilis_ are not easily distinguished
from _A. nobilis_ in a young state, until cones are produced. They are
beautiful, but comparatively useless trees, and there are no specimens
in this country approaching the dimensions already attained here by _A.
nobilis_.
Of the Asiatic silvers I will mention but two, both from the Himalayas.
_Abies pindrow_, a beautiful tree of columnar growth and fine glossy
foliage, has proved quite hardy in Britain. The finest specimen I have
seen is at Gordon Castle, Banffshire, about 70 feet high and a picture
of health. _A. webbiana_ is a tree of wider spread than _A. pindrow_,
and excels all other silvers in its splendid foliage, two broad white
bands on the under sides of the large needles thoroughly justifying the
epithet "silver." When the boughs are set with great violet-blue cones
this tree is indeed a beautiful object. Individuals of this species vary
a good deal in their endurance of British climate, at least in the west.
Its tendency to early growth renders it very vulnerable by spring
frosts, and when it has been debilitated by the destruction of the young
growth, it falls a prey to the attacks of aphis.
The Spruce Firs
When a British forester talks of a spruce fir he may be understood to
refer to _Picea excelsa_, commonly known as the Norway spruce, although
in fact much of the Norwegian spruce forest is composed of the Siberian
spruce (_P. obovata_), a species closely resembling the other, but
incapable of thriving in the moist and relatively mild climate of Great
Britain.
The so-called Norway spruce is not a native of the British Isles, its
natural range extending from the Pyrenees on the south to Scandinavia on
the north, and eastward through the Carpathian Mountains to Western
Russia; but, next to the Scots pine and larch, it is the conifer most
commonly seen in British woodland, and, where undergrowth is not too
rank, it may reproduce itself from self-sown seed. It has, indeed, been
far too extensively planted with us, probably owing to its cheapness and
easiness to handle. It is only to be found well developed in inland
districts, such as the valley of the Tay and Deeside, where it forms
really fine forest, and where noble specimens may be seen.