10 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTTJRAL SOCIETY. 



the wood having to be brought to the coast on carts or sledges, or 

 floated down by river. How long these supplies may last cannot 

 at present be estimated ; but in the absence of an organisation 

 limiting the quantity exported to that which the yearly growth of 

 the forests can replace, and providing for the restocking of the 

 ground by planting and sowing, or by duly protected natural 

 regeneration, it is easy to see that the present rate of export 

 cannot be permanently maintained. 



Numerous cargoes of wood of a class which used formerly to be 

 discarded as waste are now floated by canal to St Petersburg, 

 whence they are shipped to Bo'ness and other ports as pit-wood ■ 

 while large consignments of props in 7 feet to 8 feet lengths are 

 brought over from the Gulf of Riga, and also from Stettin and 

 other German ports. The vessels employed in this trade usually 

 carry back coal. 



The wood lying in the port of Bo'ness is chiefly spruce ; but 

 there is also a proportion of Scots fir, which, being more resinous, 

 is considered to possess greater durability. The timber has been 

 grown in dense forests, and has therefore narrow annual rings, 

 and is comparatively free from knots, while it tapers but little, 

 and has for the most part been barked. It is, generally speaking, 

 sold to mine-owners "in the round "j but logs of 6 inches and 

 upwards in diameter are sawn longitudinally into quarters and 

 sold in lengths of 1| feet to 3 J feet. 



The usual dimensions of the shorter imported props, and the 

 prices per 100 linear feet now charged for them "ex ship," are as 

 follows : — 



