the soil for the benefit of the hardwood, which send their roots deeper down; consequently, much injury is often done by this means ; and this I
have frequently seen proved. The Spruce Fir, as also all the Coniferous tribe, are best suited for timber when planted in a mass by themselves ;
but seeing that it is proper, and even necessary, to have a proportion of them planted for the benefit of nursing up our hardwood plantations while
in a young state, I recommend planting the Spruce but sparingly for that purpose, having found the Scots Pine and Larch answer much better."
We confess that we have more faith in Mr Brown's practical experience than in the reasoning on
which he rests his opinion; and are inclined to regard the Scots Fir as the best nurse of the three (Larch,
Spruce, and Scots Fir). Theoretically, each might be considered best adapted for a particular kind of
locality : as, for instance, the Spruce might be considered the best on the most exposed situations, as being
the thickest, and therefore furnishing the most perfect shelter; but as it does not itself thrive so well as the
Scots Fir in such positions, that tree must have the preference, as there can be no doubt that a thriving
Scots Fir is better than an unthriving Spruce. In very sheltered situations, where there is little wind, the
Larch may be better than either.
The Spruce makes very fair hedges. Loudon says that such hedges are not unfrequent in Switzerland
and some parts of Bavaria and Baden, and that in 1814 (we presume the observation is taken from
some account of the French invasion in that year) Spruce hedges were observed in some gentlemen's
gardens near Moscow, between 30 and 40 feet high. We know that in this country, so long as the trees
are young, the hedge thrives ; but we anticipate, although we cannot speak from experience, as we never
saw an old one, that when the plants get old the hedge will become bare and open. A great deal will
depend, however, upon the treatment and care it receives. Among its other good properties, the Spruce
is an excellent cover to game.
Besides the shipping uses to which the trees are put, such as masts, yards, oars, &c., the timber is
applied to almost all economical purposes : in building houses, upholstery, and cabinet-work. It is much
used as the substructure of which veneered furniture is made, as no wood glues better. It is easily
carved, stained, polished, and gilded, and is celebrated for making musical instruments. Many a fine
" Cremona" has been made of it.
In its native wilds it is put to some primitive uses, which civilized nations with better means rejedt.
A poor beverage, called spruce-beer, is made from the buds and young shoots, which are also sometimes
used as a winter food for cattle and sheep, and given to horses, mixed with oats or other food.
The sawdust, in times of scarcity, is even mixed with meal, to make cakes for the inhabitants themselves.
The Laplanders are said to eat the cone-like excrescences produced by the chermes ; and whey,
in which the cones have been boiled, is said to be a remedy for the scurvy.
Culture— The Spruce grows in soil of almost any quality, but requires a certain amount of
moisture. In thin, poor, and bare soil, or in sand, its progress is very slow and unsatisfactory. In
deep loam, it grows very rapidly. But although it likes moisture, it must not be stagnant; the drainage
must be good, although not too complete. Situation, too, is considered by foresters to be a point of
great importance in the cultivation of this tree. Mr Brown, in his " Forester," gives an example or
two from the Spruce Fir plantations at Arniston, shewing how it varies by soil and situation. In a
sheltered glen behind Arniston garden, there are Spruce Firs from 80 to 95 feet high, with a diameter
near the bottom of from 2 to 3 feet; and, generally, these trees are in good health. The soil upon
which they grow is in many places a stiff blue clay, in other places a clay loam, and in a few
instances it is a sandy loam. These trees being nearly all alike situated as regards shelter, he
finds that the largest and healthiest-looking trees were those growing upon the clay loam ; next to
them those growing upon stiff clay; the least healthy being those growing upon the sandy loam.
As these trees are all of the same apparent age, he concluded that, other circumstances being
alike, the Spruce Fir will thrive best upon a loamy soil, and worst upon an open dry gravelly
one.
In other sheltered parts upon the same estate, there were large healthy Spruce Firs growing
upon
upon an open gravelly soil, where the roots had a supply of water oozing through the gravel. Upon
another part of the estate were trees of good size growing upon a deep mossy soil which rested upon
a bed of sand. These last-mentioned trees grew most rapidly, the situation being on a sloping brae,
and the roots having the advantage of a constant supply of water as it oozed up into the moss out
ot the sand below. He speaks of a stiff clay, drained from surface-water, producing trees 50 feet
high, and 18 inches diameter at bottom, at 38 years of age ; the trees being still in a vigorous healthy
state, and likely to become of larger dimensions.
Again, at the same elevation as that upon which the trees last mentioned were growing—
namely, 700 feet above the level of the sea—he found Spruce Firs of the same age, but growing
upon a dry gravelly soil, generally not more than 30 feet high, from 8 to 12 inches diameter at
bottom, and, in general, rotten in the heart; which seems to shew that the Spruce Fir, in a high site
as well as in a low, prospers much better upon a somewhat dampish soil than upon a dry one. Again,
in the younger plantations, situated about 900 feet above the level of the sea, he found the same
qualifications of soil relative to the tree hold good. At the elevation last mentioned he could point
out Spruce Firs rotten at heart, and not more than twenty years old; and that upon a dry
gravelly soil. Similar experiences could be narrated by almost every one who has planted.
With regard to moss or peat, Mr Brown gives the following experiences:
" Relative to moss land of a purely vegetable character, 1 have seen at Scone, in Perthshire, Scots Pines growing well upon it, as also Sprucc
Fir and Larch for a time; but as soon as the two last-mentioned sorts arrive at above thirty years old they begin to decay in the heart, and consequently
decrease in value. I have lately seen very large enclosures planted on land of a purely vegetable character, and find that wherever it is
of a well-decomposed description, and has been well drained, the crop succeeds well, whether that be Scots Pine or Spruce Fir r but, generally
speaking, the crops on such land do not attain large dimensions, nor live to the usual age of the species as found growing on land more congenial
to their nature."— The Forester, p. 542.
The explanation of the different success of different plantations in peat soil is undoubtedly that
to which Mr Brown ascribes it—viz., the more or less completeness of the drainage. When the
trees have the spongioles of their roots constantly in water, they will decay; and it often happens that
the surface of such soil is moderately dry, while a foot or so below it the water stands. By about thirty
years of age the roots reach this depth, and then of course decay.
Mr Brown specifies Scots Fir, and the Norway Spruce, Willows, and Birch, as first in order as
trees adapted for growing upon moss soil to a useful size. He also takes pains to shew the profit that he
thinks may be realised per acre out of properly-managed plantations. We are far from endorsing the
sanguine view he takes of the subject, by which he makes out that the net value yielded by an acre of
Larch in sixty years should be ^509, 17s. 4d.; but as he contrasts the returns which he thinks might
be made from Larch, Scots Fir, and Spruce, and is impartially, although unequally, sanguine about them
all, we may avail ourselves of his comparative results, as affording an approximation indicative of their
relative commercial value. According to these, the average value of an acre of Scots Fir at the end of
eighty years may be taken at ^300, and of Spruce Fir at about ^260. The relative annual value
of the crop of Larch, Scots Fir, and Spruce would, according to these data, be as 8, 4, and 3, viz.:—
Larch, . . . . . . . about per acre.
Scots Fir, „4
Spruce 3
He adds that the reason of the inferiority of the Scots Fir and Spruce is, that they are not so much
sought after in the young state as the Larch is, both being much inferior in the value of their wood till
of full age, and that even then the Larch sells at one-fourth more than either of them.
Where the Spruce has space, is growing in suitable soil, and is protected from cattle, it sometimes
extends itself, by the lowest branches resting on the ground and forming natural layers, which take
root. A remarkable instance of this is recorded in the "Gardeners' Magazine" (vol. xiii. p. 249), by
[ 24 ] H Mr