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degree unfavourable lo any possible planling ol'woods. Al present they 

 are only planted under the lea of houses, cliffs, stone-walls etc. and 

 as soon as the trees grow up to the height of the shelter their further 

 upward growth is stopped. If for example we view Thorshavn 

 from the sea we do not see niuch of trees or gardens even there; 

 they lie hidden behind the houses, and whatever has been planted 

 where the conditions of shelter were bad appears quite miserable. 

 Even the Scandinavian rowan, which is a hardy, wind-resisting 

 tree, is bent down in the direction of the wind. 



As it is certain that there have been no v^^oods on Ihe Færoes 

 during the present geological period, a faet witnessed to by the 

 peaty bogs, I do not believe that it will be possible to »cover the 

 Færoese hills with woods« on any large scale, as has sometimes 

 been suggested in the Færoese journals within recent years. As 

 the natural conditions at the Færoes are nearly akin to those of 

 the Shetlands, it seems to me of inlerest by way of comparison to 

 quote what Edmondston writes in the introduction (p. XVIII) lo 

 his Flora of Shetland^: »I do not think il probable Ihal planting 

 will ever become a successful occupation in Shetland«, and as the 

 main obstacles in the way, he mentions the short duration of the 

 summer and the early appearance of frost in autumn. During a 

 very short visit to Shelland in 1902 I only saw some very modest 

 plantalions of maple al Lerwick; they were planted under the 

 shelter of a stone-wall and all the shools that reached up over this 

 were dead. Yet some few gardens are nevertheless to be found in 

 the neighbourhood of Lerwick, according to Feilberg^, who visited 

 the Færoes and Shetland in 1899. Thus on p. 88 of his pleasant 

 description of his journey, he mentions the fine garden of the Da- 

 nish Consul Hay with ils (for Shetland) exceptionally large trees, 

 ca. 10 feel high firs, maple, willow and elder, but he adds in a 

 note: »it must be admitted, under the shelter of high walls«. On 

 p. 63, in showing that the lack of trees is a characteristic of both 

 groups of Islands, Feilberg writes: »and the reason is probably 

 the same at both piaces; the damp summer in conjunction with 

 the mild weather of autumn and winter which occasions no stop- 

 page in the growth; the young shools thus without hardened woody 



^ Thomas Edmonston: A Flora of Shetland. Aberdeen 1845. 

 - P. Feilberg: Fra Lier og Fjelde. Breve til Hjemmet 1899. Trykt som 

 Manuskript. Kjøbenhavn 1900. 



