measured, in 1905, 88 feet by 10 feet 7 inches. A very large tree is reported to be growing in the grounds of Major Ross at Kilroch, Nairnshire.
In Ireland the finest example that we know is at Curraghmore, Waterford, the seat of the Marquess of Waterford. Mr. Crombie writes that it is now (March 1905) 106 feet in height, with a girth of 12 feet at 5 feet from the ground. This tree was reported[1] in 1891 to be no feet high (evidently an estimate) with a girth of 10 feet.
At Mount Shannon, Co. Limerick, there is growing a very vigorous tree, with branches to the ground, which in 1905 was 79 feet by 12 feet.
A tree at Clonbrock, Co. Galway, planted in 1881 and growing in boggy soil, was in 1904 56 feet high by 4 feet 8 inches in girth.
Timber
The wood is said by Sargent to be light, soft, and straight grained, not strong, with a satiny surface, and thick, nearly white, sapwood.
It is largely used on Puget Sound for purposes where cheap lumber is required, but I did not see it in the timber yards that I visited in Tacoma.
Leislett does not mention it in his work, but Stone, quoting Macoun, says that it is elastic, bends with the grain without splitting, and is much used in boatbuilding, for light oars, staves, doors, and window-sashes, resists decay for a long time, and is not attacked by insects.
I am informed by Mr. Rogers, one of the principal timber buyers for the Admiralty, that no other spruce makes such good light oars, and that in consequence it is now imported annually for that purpose.(H.J.E.)
- ↑ Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc. (1892), xiv. 562.
