The main tree, in the Blue Room, is an 18 and-a-half foot tall Fraser fir festooned with designer-made tiny outfits for Mr. and Mrs.

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In Mr. Frampton's lab, technicians spent several hours this past week rubbing the branches and weighing needle loss from hundreds of Fraser fir samples, to weed out non-needle-holding family lines.

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Brown was also delighted for goalkeeper Michael Fraser, whose mistakes against Dundee United helped the Tayside club to a win at Fir Park last week.

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