Christmas tree cultivation and oxygen. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, copper, chlorine, manganese, molybdenum, iron, and zinc are obtained from the soil. If the necessary elements are not available in the local soil, nutritious fertilizers are used. Other important soil considerations include pH and drainage. Certain types of soil are preferable, depending on the type of tree. Pine trees are usually better adapted to a sandy or sandy loam soil, while white spruce trees and fir trees, such as the Douglas-fir, prefer fine-texture loams and clay loam soils. Some trees grow well in all types of soil, but in any case,
Trysting tree smooth bark. The 'Great Fraser Yew' may be as much as 700 years old and once served as the rallying point of the Clan Fraser members in times of trouble. Kelso, in the Scottish Borders has a 'trysting tree' which is connected with the annual Common Ridings. The locally famous trysting place of the 'Three Thorns of Carlinwalk', this being an old name for Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, are recorded in the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Robert Burns writes of a trysting thorn tree (see below) at the Mill of Mannoch at Coylton in South Ayrshire. A new