It is a mistake to suppose that fir trees should be cut in summer, because, (as they say) the sap, which
is the turpentine, is afloat; they should always be cut when the sap is stagnant, viz. in winter. Fir cut in
the summer will become full of mushrooms in a twelvemonth afterwards. I have tried this frequently and
paid dearly for my experience.
P L A C E S O F G R OW TH .
1. Scotch Fir. Mountainous rocky situations, shelter not necessary.
2. Spruce. Gardens and lawns, where it can have room to spread its lower branches horizontally, and
is not wanted to stand above forty years.
3. Silver Fir. Strong lands, fit for oak; rather sheltered; but shelter not indispensable.
4. Larch. Sheltered situations on the sides of hills; sandy, if possible, though poor. It does not like
cold wet land.
I omit the Balm of Gilead Fir, as we have had none grown to an age sufficient for determining its rise as
timber. It seems to be very like the Silver Fir in quality.
I hope, Sir, you will find something in these remarks worthy your notice, as they are the result of the
experience of above thirty years, from the seed to the great tree.
I am, Sir, your very humble servant,
TH OM A S DAVIS.
E X T R A C T
FROM
THE REV. WILLIAM COXE’S TRAVELS IN POLAND, RUSSIA, SWEDEN, AND DENMARK,
ON
T H E S U B J E C T O F C H R I S T IA N A D E A L ,
(Vol. V. p. 28, 5th Edit.)
“ T he planks and deals are of superior estimation to those sent from America, Russia, and from the different
parts of the Baltic, because the trees grow on the rocks, and are therefore firmer, more compact, and less
liable to rot than the others, which chiefly shoot from a sandy or loamy soil. The plans are either red or
white fir, or pine. The red wood is produced from the Scotch Fir, and the white wood, which is in such
high estimation, from the Spruce Fir. This wood is the most demanded, because no country produces it
in such quantities as this part of Norway. Each tree yields three pieces of timber, eleven or twelve feet in
length, and is usually sawed into three planks; a tree generally requires seventy or eighty years growth before
it arrives at the greatest perfection.
The environs of Christiana not yielding sufficient planks for exportation, the greater part of the timber is
hewn in the inland country, and floated down the rivers and cataracts. Saw-mills are used for the purpose
of cutting the planks, but must be privileged, and can only cut a certain quantity. The proprietors are bound
to declare on oath, that they have not exceeded that quantity; and if they do, the privilege is taken away,
and the saw-mill destroyed. There are one hundred and thirty-six privileged saw-mills at Christiana, of which
one hundred belong to the family of Anker. The quantity of planks permitted to be cut amounts to 20,000,000
standard deals, twelve feet long, and one inch and a quarter thick.”
In Scotland, they distinguish the wood cut in the native forests from that obtained in plantations, by
calling the former Highland Fir, and the latter Park Fir. The Highland Fir is most esteemed, on account
of its greater durability, being frequently found undecayed in ancient buildings, when the other sort is
entirely wasted. This striking difference in the same species is probably to be attributed to the mountainous
and rocky situations in which the native timber is found, and where the trees being of slower growth the
wood is consequently of a harder texture; the latter may be readily distinguished from that of the Park Fir
by its much deeper yellow colour.
COPY OF A LETTER
FROM
TH OMA S MA R SHAM, ESQ. TR. L. S. TO THE AUTHOR,
ON THE
SUBJECT OF INSECTS DESTRUCTIVE TO PINES.
DEA R SIR, B aker Str e e t , J une 6, 1803.
A greeably to your desire, I have perused with care and attention the several letters
from your friends in Wiltshire respecting the insect which attacks the various species of Pine trees in that
county. It is evidently the Dermestes piniperda of Linneeus, (Ips piniperda of Coleoptera Britannica and De
Geer) and although apparently so common and destructive, is yet but little known in its larva or grub state,
for all the observations seem to relate to the perfect insect, whereas most animals of this kind are, in general,
found to be far more mischievous in their primary or larva state. Linmeus observes that it perforates the
inferior branches of the Pine; De Geer remarks, that he has found it in the wood of weak trees, and also
within the young green branches, which it hollows interiorly by eating the substance, and this causes the
branches to dry and perish; but neither of those authors mentions the particular species of Pine to which it
gives a preference. Mr. Wickham in his letter to you states that he found it on Pinus sylvestris, Pinea, and
Strobus, but that its greatest ravage was on Pinus sylvestris; that he had not perceived it on Pinus Cembra,
abies, or on either species of Larix. Mr. Davies observes, “ that it bores a hole through the shoots of the
“ last spring about eight inches from the summit, and then works its way up the pith, whereby the branch
“ withers and breaks off’; and as it attacks not only the main leader, but also the side leaders, of course the
“ tree will lose all its leaves the second year, and must inevitably die.” The devastation mentioned by the
Duke of Somerset and Lord Malmsbury, which had taken place in the Pine forests in Germany, I am of
opinion cannot be attributed to the Ips piniperda, but to the larva of the Phahena Bombyx Monacha of
Linneeus, which consumes the leaves of the Pine, and which you as well as myself have been lately informed
has destroyed whole forests thirty miles in extent. D. Johann. Heinrich Jordens, in a work published in
German in the year 1798, says, that the larva of this moth has discovered its mischievous tendency these
two years, by entirely destroying the forests of Schlier and Ebendorf, and has now begun to spread itself
on the confines of Voightland towards Bayreuth, where it attacked in a circumference of eight to ten German
miles (i. e. forty-eight to sixty English) several larger and smaller forests. In 1784, he observes, that in the
Selber forest it eat up the Fir as well as the Pine trees; but this circumstance had not been noticed in general,
and he thinks that nothing but extreme hunger could force them to attack the needles of the Fir tree. The
larva of the Tenthredo Pini is another very pernicious little animal; a few of them were sent some years since
from Scotland, which I had to examine: they had destroyed an immense and valuable plantation of Pines. 1 his
latter insect is very accurately described by that celebrated Swedish naturalist the Baron De Geer. I he
Curculio Pini and Curculio Abietis are said to be very prejudicial to trees of the Genus Pinus, but as the
larvje of these, I presume, feed on the substance of the wood, their larvae are but little known. Six other insects
are also enumerated by the German writers as destructive to the Pine, viz. Dermestes Typographus, Poly-
graphus, Micographus, and Calcographus, Dermestes Scolytus, and Cerambyx Inquisitor; to which a much
longer list might be added, both of those that feed on the leaves and those that penetrate into the trunk itself.
We have most, if not the whole, of lliese insects in our own country, but happily we hear but of little mischief
occasioned by them, and they are but rarely found. Of Dermestes Typographus I have never yet found
a single specimen; and of Phalama monacha but one, during the number of years that I have made this branch
of science the amusement of my leisure hours. The Dermestes Scolytus seems with us to confine its ravages
to the Elm, of which mischief 1 have been lately an eye witness. I have thus endeavoured to comply with