26 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The slopes are for the most part moderate and suitable to forest 

 growth; but, owing mainly to the action of wind, the crop, especi- 

 ally the Scots fir, becomes stunted at altitudes above 700 or 800 

 feet in exposed situations and above 1000 feet in more sheltered 

 places. This effect is specially observable in the higher parts of 

 Creag Ruadb, Cnoc Fyrish and Cnoc Duchaire. The soil is for 

 the most part light and of moderate but sufficient depth, rendering 

 the locality eminently adapted to the growth of coniferous woods. 

 Over portions of the ground the development of the younger crops 

 is marked by great vigour, of which the following instances may be 

 noted, viz. : — In Black Park Corner, the dominant stems of larch 

 and Douglas fir, in mixture fourteen years old, attain an average 

 height of about 40 and 39 feet respectively ; in parts of Temple 

 Park, larch, Scots fir and spruce, aged fifteen years, reach a 

 mean height of 31, 28 and 25 feet respectively; in the eastern 

 part of Cnoc-an-Eiliknaidh, larch and Scots fir, aged fourteen years, 

 run to a mean height of 28 and 20 feet ; while in Lower Assynt 

 Belt, larch, Scots fir and spruce have grown in eleven or twelve 

 years to heights of 32, 25 and 24 feet respectively. The trees 

 composing these crops have, generally speaking, good girth and a 

 flourishing appearance ; but although actual disease is not prevalent 

 among the larches, their foliage and bark are not everywhere in a 

 healthy condition. The above have been selected for mention as 

 being among the most promising of the young crops on the estate ; 

 but the rate of development of the majority of the younger woods, 

 at moderate altitudes and where the larches are not seriously 

 injured by disease, is very satisfactory. 



At Cromarty on the Black Isle, the mean annual temperature, 

 as recorded at an elevation of 60 feet above sea-level durincr a 

 period of forty years, is 46° -6. The lowest mean monthly tempera- 

 ture, which occurs in the month of January, is 38°-5. The mean 

 monthly temperatures in March, April and May are respectively 

 39°-5, 43°-9 and 49°; while in September, October and November 

 they are 53°1, 47 c -2 and 42°. The readings at Chanonry, on 

 the eastern side of the Black Isle at an altitude of 40 feet, are 

 almost identical with the above. Severe spring frosts in April and 

 May, and autumn frosts in September, are experienced about once 

 in five years, and caused considerable damage to young larches both 

 in the spring and in the autumn of 1896. 



The mean annual rainfall, as recorded during a period of twenty- 

 five years, at Ardross near the northern limit of the Novar Estate, 



