WOODS OF THE NOVAR ESTATE. 29 



least, many of the most promising trees were removed during the 

 course of thinning. 



As before stated, Scots fir growing on the higher ground, in com- 

 paratively cold and exposed situations, is stunted in its development; 

 but the timber of such trees is hard and fine-grained, and is, no doubt, 

 of a very durable quality. Scots fir appears, as a rule, to form an 

 unusually small heartwood, which in many instances does not occupy 

 more than from one-third to one-half of the diameter of the stem at 

 its base ; it appears to develop most freely on the more open side of 

 the tree. Except in Clash-na-buiac, Dail Gheal and Bog-a'-Phibbaire, 

 the larch trees now standing are for the most part affected by 

 red-rot. Of the total area (868 acres) occupied by the older 

 conifers, 518 acres, or about five-eighths of the whole, are closed, 

 the remaining woods being grazed by farmers' flocks. The 

 more lightly stocked portions of Evanton Wood, which have been 

 closed for three years, show a very promising natural growth of 

 Scots fir and larch ; and a portion of this wood, which has been 

 closed for one year only, is already beginning to fill up with natural 

 seedlings of these species. A similar growth is to be seen in most 

 of the thinly stocked parts of the older coniferous woods from which 

 sheep and cattle are excluded, and where the growth of brackens 

 and other herbage is not too dense for its development. This is 

 notably the case in Black Park and Contullich, which were closed 

 in 1898; but part of Evanton was closed earlier than any of the 

 other woods. A fair but irregular growth of natural seedlings is 

 found also in woods open to grazing, wherever the young growth is 

 protected from sheep by coarse herbage — Inchcholtair Wood may 

 be cited as an instance of this. In this light and favourable soil, 

 natural seedlings of both Scots fir and larch spring up readily in 

 heather of considerable height and density, but very few of them 

 are to be found in grass. 



(b) Hardwoods. 



Of the older hardwoods (56 acres), about 17 acres contain a 

 considerable proportion of oak, and in about 37 additional acres 

 that tree forms one of the constituents of the crop. The average 

 age of these woods ranges between fifty and ninety years. They 

 are estimated to contain, on an average per acre, 65 trees of 

 11 cubic feet each, or about 715 (quarter-girth) cubic feet of 

 timber, down to 5 inches in diameter. These very thin crops are, 

 as might be expected, generally speaking of poor quality, and they do 



