88 SMOKE AND TREES. 



for the last seven or eight years, and I calculate that the different 

 trees are affected to something like the following extent in the 

 various woods and plantations — those nearer Glasgow being 

 decidedly the worst. With Oaks, Ash, Sycamore, Beech, Elm, 

 Hornbeam, Birch, Service trees, Rowans and Austrian Pine the 

 diminution in growth will vary in the different species from 10 to 

 20 per cent, in the immediate neighbourhood, and further out it 

 will not be more than something like 5 to 7 per cent. If, on the 

 other hand, the worst sufferers, such as Scots Fir, Weymouth 

 Pine and Spruce, are compared, it is found that in plantations at 

 the extremities of the estate, the annual loss in growth is about 

 10 to 20 per cent., and in those near-hand it is as much as 25 to 

 40 per cent., and gradually getting worse. Now if to this is added 

 an equal reduction per cent, of stems per acre, it is at once evident 

 that it is absolutely impossible to cultivate trees successfully from 

 a commercial point of view in any smoky locality. In fact the 

 great concern of those who either own or manage woodlands 

 under such conditions is not how to make them pay, but how 

 best to treat them so that they may be kept in anything like a 

 satisfactory state of health. I think no one will deny that the smoke 

 question as applied to the vegetable kingdom is quite a serious 

 problem, and any one who finds a remedy will create a name for 

 himself, and confer a blessing on his fellow men. 



