8 On the Native Forests of Aberdeenshire. 



But independently of the probability arising from these factsy 

 which might be referred backward to past ages, as well as to 

 the future, there is abundant evidence that, at some former period, 

 the Scotch fir grew in many places where it is not now found, 

 and that in situations much lower and nearer the sea than our 

 present native forests. This evidence exists in the many trunks 

 of that tree, in a state of high preservation, that are in many 

 places found in the peat-mosses. There is one moss in particu- 

 lar with which I _am acquainted, in the parish of Coldstone, 

 where they have been found in such numbers as to prove that a 

 close-growing forest has been here overturned, and I have witness- 

 ed the raising of several of the trees. They lie buried under a 

 covering of recent moss, of from 4 to 10 or 12 feet deep. Some 

 of them have been overturned with the root, and others broken off, 

 leaving the root in the position in M'hich it originally grew. The 

 moss, in extent I conjecture about 100 acres, is situated at the bot- 

 tom of a very shallow basin, drained by a narrow gorge, where the 

 water has probably been interrupted by the overthrown trees, and 

 a lake adapted for the growth of mosses by this means formed. 

 The basin occurs in the bottom of a large valley of six or seven 

 miles each way. Towards the centre and deeper part of the basin, 

 indeed, a shallow layer of moss has evidently been formed on the 

 surface before the trees established themselves there, for it is found 

 below their unmoved roots ; but the much larger proportion of the 

 moss has grown since the fall of the trees. The wood is that of 

 very old trees, containing a great deal of turpentine. The sap- 

 wood had rotted off, and the bark, much of which is quite firm, 

 has been crushed or has fallen downwards ; but the heart-wood is 

 quite fresh and highly serviceable, and of unusual toughness. It 

 has been part of the employment of the neighbouring cottagers for 

 many years past to dig for this wood, and sell it over a consider- 

 able extent of country, where it is used in small splits for sewing 

 the common straw bee-hives, aud also burnt to give light. For the 

 latter use it is now generally superseded by a whale oil lamp. 



The trees in this moss are generally prostrated towards the east, 

 and it is more than probable that they have been uprooted and bro- 

 ken by a heavy storm coming from the west. I shall have occa- 

 sion, in answer to another of the queries, to refer to a storm which 

 produced a similar effect within the memory of the present gene- 

 ration. 



This moss is nearly parallel to the native forest of Glentanner, 



Although not strictly connected with this subject, I am tempted to state here 

 another singular provision of nature for disseminating the Salix alba. During 

 the months of October and November, and again in March, the shoots of the 

 side branches of this tree, of two and three years growth, become extremely fra- 

 gile, and snap off with every gale in great numbers. The half of the thickness, 

 next the wind, is as smoothly broken as if cut with a sharp instrument ; the 

 other half at a short angle. Every branch so broken off, is ready to become a 

 new tree if accidentally trampled into the ground. 



