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been tried, to amend it,-and tried in vain.

If the foregoing be the true state of the case, it must be obvious that the real defects of the article are reduced to a small compass, namely Knottiness, the consequence of the natural form of the plants, and want of density, the consequence of quick growth.

For the

sake of order, the reader is referred to the article PRUNING, where a preventive for the former defect will be clearly pointed out, and therefore, for the present, our attention must be principally directed to the latter.

Dr. Smith observes, in his Essay on the production of Timber, in the first Vol. of the Transactions of the Highland Society, 185,-that "the Scotch Firs growing naturally in the upper part of Argyleshire, and also in the north

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Highlands, as also at Braemar, at the

"Head of the River Dee, are so excel"lent in quality, as not to be surpassed

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by any Fir Timber in the world," and adds," he has seen some of it, which "after it had been 300 years in the Roof "of an old Castle, was as fresh and full "of sap, as new imported from Memel," and "that "that part of it was actually wrought up into new furniture."

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From the above, one would be led to suppose, the Timber so "excellent in quality," grew only in situations equally EXPOSED and ELEVATED; as the lands in question are said to be the highest in Scotland; and consequently, that such places only could produce good Fir Timber: but this, I am well assured, is not the case, as a communication, (for which I have to thank that enlightened Planter, Sir Archibald Grant, of Monymusk,) puts the matter into a different light. He says, "In the high"er parts of this county, (Aberdeen

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shire,) from the source of the Dee, "and many miles down that river, also

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along a great part of the length of the "river Spey, there are extensive forests "of the Scotch Fir, which there grows "to a large size, all natural wood. The

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ground, in the vicinity of these rivers, "is the most elevated of any in Scot"land. But, it is not thence to be in"ferred, that the Firs grow on these Alpine regions.-It is only in the val

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lies, on the borders of these rivers, and "the smaller dales on the banks of tributary torrents, consisting of alluvial soil, formerly brought down from the

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mountains; in the gentle slopes at "the bottoms of hills, or the elevated "recesses of the mountains, that these "trees thrive, and become valuable; "not only on account of their very t great size, but also for their excel"lent quality, which is often not in"ferior to that imported from the Bal"tic."

Here then we have satisfactory proof, that Fir Timber is produced within the island, grown in situations ELEVATED, but SHELTERED, sufficiently good to be a substitute for the foreign; which does away the idea, that none but the coldest situations produce such an article.

These accounts agree, in representing natural grown timber as superior to planted. Dr. Smith assigns no reason for it; only concludes, such Firs are a superior species to what are found elsewhere. Sir Archibald inclines to think, that it is occasioned by the trees making a.tap root, and consequently, taking firmer hold of the ground than the planted ones.-On this point, I cannot help differing from both; being decidedly of opinion, such superiority is no other than the effect of superior age. We have good reason to believe, that all the Scotch Firs in the SoUTH part of the island, were originally pro

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duced from the natural Woods in the NORTH, as there are no such Woods in the South indeed, the term Scotch Fir, seems to fix that as the place; and, therefore, the idea of a superior species can have little weight. As to the timber being superior in quality, we know of no natural reason which can be assigned to countenance the supposition, except it be, that a tree, never removed from where the seed was sown, produces fewer roots than a transplanted one; and when, as is supposed in this case, one of the principal strikes into a soil less fertile than the surface, the tree must grow slower.The plain inference from which is, that the Wood must be more dense, and of superior quality.

10 But admitting that no such reason as the foregoing existed, (for probably many who look only at the surface of things, may be inclined to dispute the point,).

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