Of the remarkable Douglas Fir at Dropmore, Mr. Charles Herrin on the same occasion says: "The monarch Douglas Fir, planted in 1830, has attained a height of 120 feet, girth of trunk 11 feet 9 inches, with beautiful spreading branches sweeping the ground, covering a diameter of 64 feet. The leaves are also of a glaucous hue, equalling in that respect many of the plants now sold from nurseries under the name of _Douglasi glauca_.... Many trees have since been raised from its seeds and planted out on the estate; one, planted in 1843, is now 78 feet high, with a girth of trunk of 8 feet 2 inches, spreading 39 feet in diameter at base; a perfect specimen."
By comparing the growth of the latter tree with the Murthly table, it will be seen that the trees make their growth much more rapidly in Scotland. The Murthly Conifers were all planted by Sir William and Sir Douglas Stewart. The present owner, Mr. Steuart Fothringham, who measured the trees in 1891 in anticipation of the visit of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, on learning that we should be glad to know their increase of growth since that date, has been so good as to have the same trees measured again, the increase being shown by the subjoined table on p. 128.
Mr. Fothringham also furnishes the following remarks: "The measurements were all carefully taken by sending men or boys up the trees, not by dendrometers, and are, I believe, correct. There are something like eighty or a hundred different varieties growing at Murthly, but some of them are young and only experiments. Those measured and noted are the most striking; they are nearly all growing in large numbers. The remarks appended to the table are made by Mr. James Laurie, the gardener, who knows Conifers well. The only additional notes I have made are the following: _Picea sitchensis_ will never, in my opinion, supplant the Spruce. _Picea orientalis_ is not as free-growing as the Spruce, but quite as hardy. _Araucaria imbricata._--Many of these were damaged by severe frost. _Cedrus Deodara_ will not, in my opinion, live to great age in our climate. _Cupressus thyoides._--This particular tree was so much broken by branches blown off its neighbour that I cut it down. _Pinus monticola_ has been attacked by a parasitic growth that is likely to destroy all the young growth and probably the trees. _Juniperus recurva_ was severely injured by the hard frost. By the hard frost I mean the winter of 1894-5. In February 1895, the thermometer was for several days below 0 Fahr., and on one night went to 11° below 0. This shows that all these trees will stand great cold at the time of year that it is likely to come, but late frosts in spring, when the sap has begun to rise, are detrimental to the young shoots of those that start their growth early in the season. There are at Murthly, besides Coniferæ, fine specimens of Yews, Oaks, Beech, Spanish Chestnut, Horse Chestnut, and Sycamore."