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presented in 1861 by Mr. Edward Stamp. It is 159 feet high, about 12 feet being underground, and is about 4½ feet in girth at ground-level. It weighed 4 tons 8 cwt., and was about 250 years old. In the British Museum of Natural History there is a section cut in 1885, 7 feet 7 inches in diameter, including bark, on which 533 annual rings may be counted. There is also in the Timbers Museum at Kew a fine section, 8 feet in diameter, cut from a tree on Puget Sound.

A technical report on the strength, weight, and structural value of Douglas timber is given by Hatt in U.S. Bureau of Forestry, Circular No. 32 (1904), from which it appears that the possibility of obtaining long and large pieces, combined with the exceptional strength and stiffness of the material, compared with its very moderate weight, renders it an ideal timber for structural purposes, and durable on exposure to weather.

In a report on the Forest Products of the United States for 1906 (issued March 1908)’ I find that this species now comes second in the quantity of timber produced, being only surpassed by "yellow pine,” under which heading are included all the various pines of the south and east except white and Norway pine (P. Strobus and P. resinosa). The quantity cut in 1906 was estimated at 5 billion feet, valued at 70 million dollars, of which the state of Washington yielded 68.5 per cent, Oregon 27.2 per cent, and all the other states together less than 5 per cent. The increase in production was very rapid in the last few years, and the average value had increased from 8.67 dollars per 1000 in 1899 to 14.20 dollars in 1906.

I am informed by Mr. R.S. Kellogg of the United States Forestry Bureau, Washington, that on the Pacific coast all masts except the smallest, and on the east coast the largest masts, are made of Douglas fir, which is transported overland from the Pacific coast.

It is the opinion of Lieut.-Commander Williams of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, U.S. Navy Dept., that there is practically no difference in the strength of Douglas fir and long-leaf pine (P. palustris) ; the latter, however, is considerably heavier. This appears to be now generally recognised by yacht- builders in Europe who use Douglas fir in preference to any other timber for the masts of racing yachts.

A letter on the timber of this tree in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1862, p. 452, gives the results of experiments made at Cherbourg by M. Serres on twelve specimens of squared mast timber sent from Vancouver, which showed that in strength it was almost equal to Florida pitch pine, and stronger than Baltic or Canadian pine. The weight of a compound mast made up of pitch pine in the centre and Baltic or Canada pine on the outside was about 12,200 kilos., whilst a solid mast of the same dimensions, made of Douglas fir, weighed only 8900 kilos. The cost of material and workmanship of the latter was very much less.

Mayr’s comparison® of the wood as grown in various parts of Europe, with that grown in America, and also with that of silver fir, spruce, and larch, is well worth studying; but the age of the trees was insufficient to make the comparison conclusive.

1 U.S. Dept. Agr. Forest Service Bull. 77.

2 Fremdländ. Wald- u. Parkbäume, 399, 400 (1906).