142 feet in height and containing about 420 cubic feet of timber. There
are still many lofty spruces in the woodland about Dunkeld and Dupplin,
containing well-grown, clean timber, and Messrs. Elwes and Henry have
recorded a number of trees in various parts of the United Kingdom from
130 to 150 feet high. As a rule, however, in this country spruce, even
when the requisite shelter has been secured, is not grown under
sufficiently strict forest conditions to produce the best deals; it is
commonly raised in mixed plantations, wherein, being patient of side
shade, it retains its branches, a habit that renders the timber coarse
and full of knots.
Probably the most successful result from a plantation of pure spruce in
Scotland was that obtained on the estate of Durris, on Deeside, where
the trees on 400 acres were sold standing at 60 years old, the average
number of spruce per acre being 560. As the average contents per tree
were 10 cubic feet, and the price realised was 5d. per foot, the value
amounted to £116 per acre.
[Illustration: DOUGLAS FIRS (_Pseudotsuga douglasii_)
PLANTED AT TAYMOUNT IN 1860]
It would be vain to expect any such return from spruce planted in such
situations as are frequently given to it. In a seaboard exposure it is
worse than useless, for no tree becomes more unsightly than a spruce
under the influence of salt-laden winds. For such situations, if spruce
be grown of any kind, there are other species likely to give better
results. I shall name two of these presently, but, first, it may be
mentioned that the genus _Picea_ consists of two distinct
groups--first, the true spruces, distinguished by having four-sided
needles; second, the Omorika spruces, which have flat, two-sided
needles. Inasmuch as some species of the second group have silvery
undersides to the needles, they are apt to be mistaken for some kind of
_Abies_, or silver fir. Here, again, the needle serves to distinguish
between them, for, as aforesaid, in the spruce family the needles are
set on little peg-like projections on the twig, whereas in the silver
firs there is no such projection, but each needle when pulled off leaves
a circular scar.
There are probably upwards of twenty species of true spruce, including
the Norway spruce. Some of them well deserve attention from the
arboriculturist, being exceedingly ornamental, such as the Himalayan
Morinda (_P. smithiana_), first raised from seed at Hopetoun House,
Linlithgowshire, in 1818, and now flourishing in various parts of the
United Kingdom at a height of 70 to 80 feet, with handsome pendulous
branchlets.
About Waterer's glaucous variety of the Colorado spruce (_P. pungens_),
there is current an amusing account of its introduction to this country
some five-and-twenty years ago. The late Mr. Anthony Waterer was an
enthusiast in his calling as a nurseryman. A traveller came to him one
day with a bag of seed which he said came off the bluest fir he had ever
seen. "How much do you want for the bag?" asked Anthony. "Two hundred
pounds," was the reply. "Oh! go along with you," exclaimed Anthony,
"d'ye think I'm made of guineas?" The man departed, but left Anthony
with his mouth watering (no pun intended) for the blue fir. He sent
after the traveller, paid him his price, and sold thousands of the
seedlings at half a guinea apiece. I cannot vouch for the truth of
detail in this narrative, but the tenour thereof is quite in accord with
Mr. Waterer's enterprise in his business.
Beautiful as some of these true spruces are, it is not among them that
the forester need look for a substitute for the Norway spruce; but there
are two at least in the other group which bid fair to oust it from its
undeserved predominance in our woodlands. The first of these is the
Sitka spruce, formerly known as the Menzies spruce, and still appearing
in some trade catalogues as _Abies menziesii_, though now recognised by
botanists only as _Picea sitchensis_. This grand tree, which in Oregon
has been known to tower to the height of between 200 and 300 feet, has
proved to be admirably suited for forestry purposes in the United
Kingdom. It is a moisture lover, thriving in soil too wet and sour for
any other conifer, and as it grows right down to the coast in Northern
California and Alaska, it does not share the dislike of the Norway
spruce for the breath of the ocean. This spruce, having been introduced
to this country in 1831 by David Douglas, has been long enough with us
to prove its quality, and there are many in the three kingdoms 100 feet
high and upwards. Probably the largest in these islands is one at Castle
Menzies, in Perthshire, which in 1904 measured 110 feet high and 13 feet
2 inches in girth at a height of 5 feet, having been planted in 1846.
The timber is suitable for similar purposes to those served by Norway
spruce; but the strong tendency of this tree to side-branching makes it
essential that it should be grown close in pure forest in order to
produce clean deals.
[Illustration: CONES OF NORWAY SPRUCE (_Picea excelsa_)]
The other tree in the Omorika group which probably has a commercial
future in this country is the Manchurian spruce, _Picea Ajanensis_ or
_Jezoensis_. I do not know that this tree is stocked by nurserymen in
this country, but seed can be obtained from Continental merchants, and I
am induced to speak favourably of it from the behaviour of about one
hundred plants which I put out about twelve years ago. In the nursery it
bears so close a resemblance to the Sitka spruce that it is difficult to
distinguish between the two species until the plants are three or four
years old; but after that age they differ markedly in foliage and habit
of growth, the Manchurian spruce being less inclined to branch outwards
than the Sitka and has no tendency to the characteristic of dropping its
needles which is apt to disfigure the American species. In the forests
of Yezo (the northern island of Japan) this spruce is reported as
growing to a height of 150-200 feet. Its growth with me is extremely
vigorous, and it seems to enjoy a maritime climate, which the Norway
spruce does not. Like all the spruces, this tree is well adapted for the
manufacture of wood pulp and celluloid.
I cannot part from the spruce family without going back to the
square-needled group in order to commend the Caucasian spruce (_Picea
orientalis_) as an ornamental tree. The slowness of its growth compared
with that of the Sitka, Manchurian, and Norwegian spruces may be thought
detrimental to its value to British planters for profit; but the grace
of its outline, and the fine, rich green of its shining foliage render
it one of the choicest of conifers. In the Caucasus it rises to a height
of 180 feet, with a girth of 12 feet; and in the British Isles, whither
it was first brought in 1839, there are many specimens between 60 and 80
feet high.
The name "spruce" has an interesting origin, about which some
controversy has been waged. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century
Spruce occurs in English literature as an alternative form of
Pruce--that is, Prussia. The Prussians were then distinguished among the
nations as great dandies. The chronicler Hall, in describing the
splendid attire of some of Henry VIII.'s courtiers, observes that "they
were appareyled after the fashion of Prussia or Spruce." Hence "spruce"
came to be a synonym for "smart, finely dressed"; and some etymologists
have argued that the spruce fir means the Prussian fir; but this has
been shown to be an error. The tree takes its name from the sprouts,
called _sprossen_ in German, whence is distilled the essence of spruce,
used in brewing _sprossen-bier_ or spruce beer. So the tree came to be
termed in German _sprossen-fichte_, translated into English spruce-fir,
though we do not brew spruce beer. Therefore the name does really come
to us from Prussia, though not in the manner supposed by the older
etymologists.
This digression into etymology brings to mind another word connected
with the spruce fir, namely "deal," which owns to one of the most
remarkable etymologies in our language. Although it has not been traced
to its original root, it exists in all branches of Teutonic speech,
always in the sense of a share or division. It also occurs in Gaelic as
_dal_, signifying a portion of land, as Dalnaspidal--the land portion of
the hospital; Dalrymple (_dal chruim puil_, the farm of the crooked
pool--on the Doon), and so on. The Anglo-Saxon _dæl_ meant a portion, a
share; whence we use the word in phrases such as "a deal of cards," "a
great deal,"[18] and have applied it to express the planks into which a
tree is "divided," or sawn up. From a Scandinavian source we get another
form of the word "dale," meaning a valley, as Tweeddale, Annandale,
etc.; for in Norway one dale or valley is "divided" from another by
mountains.
The Cedar
"The cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot,
But low shrubs wither at the cedar's foot."
Shakespeare's _Lucrece_, 664.
The frequency with which Shakespeare mentions the cedar can only be
explained as the action of a far-ranging intellect, beholding things
through the eyes of travellers, and weaving hearsay into vivid imagery.
He had, indeed, scriptural authority for assigning to the cedar royal
pre-eminence among trees.
"Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches....
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the fir trees
were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his
branches, nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in
beauty.... So that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of
God envied him." (Ezekiel, xxxi., 3, 8, 9.)
But Shakespeare himself never set eyes upon a cedar: for Evelyn, writing
fifty years after his death, could but deplore that there were no cedars
in England--"I conceive," says he, "from our want of industry." He says
that he had raised seedlings, perhaps from the first cones brought to
this country. Howbeit, once this noble tree was established with us, it
throve amain, and it is now as familiar an adjunct to English manor
houses as the yew is to churchyards.
In Scotland it is not so often seen, more's the pity, for the fine
specimens at Hopetoun House, Biel, Moncrieff House, Dupplin, and Mount
Stuart, ranging from 64 to 88 feet high, with girths of from 13 to 23
feet, testify to its acceptance of northerly conditions. The largest
cedar recorded by Elwes is a splendid specimen at Pains Hill, near
Cobham, which in 1905 measured 115 feet high, with a girth of 26 feet 5
inches. Like most of its kind in Great Britain, this tree, having been
planted for ornament, has been allowed room to throw out mighty side
branches; but the cedar can be made to develop lofty, clean boles if
grown in close canopy, such as one at Petworth, in Sussex, which in 1905
was 125 feet high, 14½ feet in girth, with a straight trunk clear of
branches to a height of 80 feet, save for one small branch that has
grown out at 56 feet from the ground.
Having regard to the fine quality of the timber, it is to be regretted
that more attention has not been given to growing cedars under forest
conditions. The nearest approach that I have seen to this treatment is
in the fine cedar avenue at Dropmore, Bucks, where a large number of
trees, close planted about seventy years ago, have grown straight and
fair to a height of as many feet.
A few years ago, when the Duke of Northumberland was having some trees
felled on Solomon's Hill in Albury Park, a lofty cedar, whereof he had
never suspected the existence, was revealed. Forest discipline had
cleared the magnificent bole of branches to a height of fifty feet, and
fifty more must be added as the probable height of the tree, which,
owing to the nature of the ground, cannot be accurately ascertained.
In regard to the timber, the value whereof for building caused the
Israelitish Kings to levy such severe tribute from the forest of
Lebanon, what is produced in the humid atmosphere of the British Isles
is not so hard and durable as that grown in the Orient; but it is
extremely suitable for panelling and other indoor work, being of a
delicate pinkish hue, fine in grain, and beautifully figured. There is
no regular market for it in Britain, but the opportunity not
infrequently occurs of securing the trunk of blown trees, and ought not
to be lost. If one goes into the market to buy cedar wood, what is
likely to be supplied is not coniferous wood at all, but that of
_Cedrela odorata_, a West Indian tree belonging to the natural order
_Meliaceæ_. On the other hand, the scented wood used for pencils comes
from the so-called pencil cedar, which is not a cedar, but a
juniper--_Juniperus virginiana_--a tree of columnar habit and slow
growth, perfectly hardy in this country, and very ornamental.
The late Sir Joseph Hooker visited the cedar grove on Mount Lebanon in
1864, and found about 400 old trees producing plenty of seed, by which
the forest would soon regenerate itself if the ground were protected
from goats, which devour every seedling. Besides this grove at the head
of the Kedisha Valley there are four others in the Lebanon district, the
largest of which, at Baruk, was reported in 1903 by Dr. A. E. Day as
containing many young trees; but the older trees were being recklessly
hacked for fuel and house timbers. Besides the Lebanon groves, which are
specially interesting from their connection with biblical history and
the prodigious age of some of the trees, there are extensive forests of
_Cedrus libani_ in the Taurus Mountains, where the winter is very
severe.
In Britain this tree responds to excess of moisture by growing far more
rapidly than in its native forests; and, notwithstanding that
exaggerated views are entertained about the age of certain specimens, it
seems certain that it never will attain with us anything approaching the
age of the patriarchs of Lebanon. Assuming that none were planted in
Britain before the middle of the seventeenth century, and that very many
have died, showing all the signs of senile decay, we cannot calculate on
a duration of life exceeding 250 years, or rather more than the normal
life span of the beech and ash.
Fifteen years ago or so I was appointed to represent the Privy Council
on a Committee formed to take over the Chelsea Physic Garden from the
Apothecaries Company. One of the first problems that presented itself
was how to deal with an aged cedar of Lebanon that stood in the grounds.
Probably it was one of the oldest in Great Britain, for it was one of
those mentioned by Sir Hans Sloane in 1685 as having been planted in
the Physic Garden, but the dwellers in Chelsea had conceived a fabulous
estimate of its age, and, although it was stone dead, the mere whisper
of the need for removing it sent a wave of indignation through the
neighbourhood. Howbeit, the dead tree was an eyesore and a harbour for
wood-lice and other pests, so it had to go. It was felled and taken
away; but in deference to popular feeling this was done under cloud of
night!
The cedar of Mount Atlas (_C. atlantica_) was pronounced by Sir Joseph
Hooker to be, like the Indian deodar (_C. deodara_), really no more than
a geographical and climatic variety of the cedar of Lebanon; but whereas
the difference in habit and appearance is well marked and constant,
modern classifiers have assigned each of the three specific rank. For
the British planter the distinction between them is of considerable
importance. The Mount Atlas cedar, which forms great forests in the
mountain ranges of Morocco and Algeria at high altitudes, is far more
erect in growth, and has less tendency to wide branching, than the cedar
of Lebanon. The glaucous variety, with foliage of a charming silvery
bloom, is one of the loveliest conifers that can be planted, provided it
is raised from seed; but nothing except disappointment is prepared for
those whom nurserymen supply with plants raised from cuttings or grafts,
which are invariably lacking in the graceful carriage and erect habit
which distinguish this species among all other cedars. There is the less
excuse for propagation by these means, inasmuch as the Atlantic cedar
ripens its cones in our country as freely as the Lebanon cedar, and
seed gathered from glaucous parents will produce a considerable
proportion of seedlings with the hereditary tint.
The cedar of Mount Atlas was not introduced to England until about 1845,
but there are already many handsome specimens, measuring 50 to 80 feet
high. The tallest I have seen in Scotland is at Smeaton-Hepburn, in East
Lothian, which was 69 feet high and 6½ feet in girth in 1902.
The deodar, _C. deodara_, may be distinguished at a glance from either
of the other forms of cedar by the graceful drooping of the young
growth. A native of the Western Himalayas, at altitudes from 4,000 to
10,000 feet, it has not adapted itself very successfully to our mild,
restless winters and cool summers, the very reverse of its native
climate. It grows in its own country to an immense size, 150 to 250 feet
high, and as much as 35 feet in girth, with long clean boles. Elwes
records how a fallen deodar lay for at least one hundred years in one of
the leased forests of the North-West before it was cut up, when it
sufficed for 460 railway sleepers, narrow gauge.
Deodar seed was first sown in Britain in 1831, at Melville in Fife and
Dropmore in Bucks. Ten years later large quantities were raised and
planted in the New Forest, but so many of these died without apparent
cause between the ages of forty and fifty years that their cultivation
there has been discontinued. Similar results have been experienced
elsewhere, so it does not seem that this tree, however desirable as an
ornamental species, can ever be of importance for forestry in the United
Kingdom. Moreover, it is not so hardy as the other two cedars, many
having succumbed in all parts of the country during the severe winter of
1860-61. There are, however, many fine specimens in the southern
counties of England and in Ireland, ranging from 75 to 85 feet high. In
Scotland, Elwes has recorded nothing taller than a tree at
Smeaton-Hepburn, which measured 55 feet high in 1902. There are several
of about the same height at Galloway House in Wigtownshire.
On the whole, the best species of cedar for planting in this country,
whether for timber or ornament, is the cedar of Mount Atlas.
[Illustration: LARCH IN SPRING]
[Illustration: LARCH FLOWERS (MALE AND FEMALE) AND CONES]
The Larch
The European larch was known in England fully one hundred years before
it arrived in Scotland, having been introduced into Southern Britain
early in the seventeenth century. But it was long before this tree was
grown except for ornament and by those curious in exotics; it was John
Evelyn who first drew attention to the value of its timber, upon which
he reported very favourably after seeing it in Continental forests.
Writing in 1678, he refers to one growing near Chelmsford, "arriv'd to a
flourishing and ample tree, [which] does sufficiently reproach our
negligence and want of industry"--for not planting more larches.
The introduction into Scotland of the larch, the most valuable of all
European conifers, was delayed a full century after the tree had become
known to English planters. When it did come, it opened a new era in the
forestry of that country; and, if credit may be given to local
traditions, its coming was not devoid of romance.
Among the other resources of the northern realm, which had been sorely
exhausted during three centuries of war with England, Scottish
woodland, once so rich and extensive, had well-nigh disappeared, and so
bare was the country that when Dr. Johnson made his tour in 1773 he
declared that in the whole of it he only saw three trees big enough to
hang a man upon.[19] Nevertheless, after the Legislative Union in 1707,
landowners very generally set about planting on their estates, none of
them more diligently than James, second Duke of Atholl, who received
from a neighbour returning from the Continent the present of a few
seedling trees which he had brought in his portmanteau from the Tyrol.
It is said that these were given to the gardener, who tried to grow them
in a greenhouse. Having languished under such unsuitable conditions, the
plants were thrown out upon the rubbish heap, where two of them,
reviving in the free Highland air, took root and grew vigorously.
The date of this incident is variously given between the years 1727 and
1738; anyhow, there the pair of "Mother Larches" stood, close to the
west end of Dunkeld Cathedral, until 1909, when the larger of them was
destroyed by lightning, after attaining the age of 170 years or thereby.
It measured 102 feet high, with a girth of 15 feet 1 inch at 5 feet from
the ground, and contained about 530 cubic feet of splendid timber.
The Duke of Atholl was so well pleased with the growth and appearance of
these two trees, and of three others of the same age, which, I believe,
are still standing at Blair, that before his death in 1764 he had
wholly altered the appearance of the landscape by planting many square
miles of hillside with larch. His example was followed by other
landowners, so that during the nineteenth century larch was planted in
greater quantity than any other tree, except perhaps Scots pine, for it
was found that, owing to the durable character of the wood even in trees
from ten to twenty years old, the thinnings of a larch plantation were
serviceable and readily saleable.
Unfortunately, it became the practice to plant larch and Norway spruce
in mixture. No more mischievous combination could have been devised,
owing to a peculiarity in the life history of the spruce-gall aphis
(_Chermes abietis_), a plant louse which bores into the buds of young
spruce and lays eggs therein, causing the tree to throw out a cone-like
gall from the site of the puncture. This gall is the nursery whence
issues a swarm of sexual and sexless aphides. The sexless form has
wings, and, alighting on a larch, speedily lays numerous eggs, which in
turn are hatched into minute sexless lice, each with a coat of white
down, easily detected as snowy dots on the foliage. In a few weeks these
creatures acquire wings, and, despite their sexlessness, lay fertile
eggs, successive swarms being produced till the fall of the leaf.
Feeding by suction of the juices in the leaves, these creatures
seriously, often fatally, reduce the vitality of the tree, the foliage
appearing as if blighted by frost.
It must be admitted that this diagnosis of the life-history of the
spruce and larch louse is to some extent tentative. It is true that no
instance is recorded of the male _Chermes_ being found on the larch, and
it is also true that, as stated by Elwes, larches are often infested
with _Chermes_ where there are no spruces near.[20] But it is well known
that many, if not all, of the _Aphidæ_ multiply by parthenogenesis (that
is, without the intervention of the male), and although it has not yet
been ascertained that this can be continued for more than four
years,[21] that is a period quite long enough to allow of the swarms
inflicting deadly injury to any tree not in the most robust health.