WOODS OF THE NOVAR ESTATE. 39 



and in Contullich Belt are self-sown seedlings which have always 

 been isolated. 



The average value of the timber (including wind-falls) cut 

 annually from the estate during the eighteen years — from 1881 to 

 1898 — which have passed since the present owner came into 

 possession, has been about £5550; the maximum, £9800, having 

 been reached in 1894, after the disastrous gales of that and the 

 preceding years. During the first three years of the above period, 

 the timber was sold entirely "in the round," either standing or 

 felled and logged ; clean-felling being done by the purchasei-s, but 

 thinnings being carried out by estate labour. During these three 

 years many improvements to the agricultural land and buildings 

 were effected ; and in order to provide timber for farm steadings 

 and other purposes, it became necessary to employ a steam saw- 

 mill. The results attained by its use led the proprietor to begin 

 selling manufactured timber, for which a considerable local demand 

 existed ; and the system thus begun was continued and.developed, 

 until it almost entirely superseded the former practice of selling 

 timber in the log. 



During the years from 1893 to 1896, vast numbers of trees were 

 blown down, and after the gales of 1893 the market for home- 

 grown timber all over the country became glutted. More wood 

 was offered for sale than the timber merchants wished to buy ; 

 prices fell rapidly, and it was almost impossible to dispose of 

 wind-falls in the form of logs. But, on this estate, experience 

 previously gained in manufacture enabled the proprietor to meet 

 the difficulty promptly and effectually. Four additional steam 

 saw-mills were purchased, by which the wind-fall trees were rapidly 

 cut up and sold, for use, principally, in local buildings, or on 

 English railways or street pavements ; but a considerable quantity 

 of the finer class of timber was shipped to Sunderland, where, 

 owing to cheap sea-freights, it was delivered at but little more 

 than one-half of the sum it would have cost to transport it 

 25 miles by rail to Inverness. The smaller stuff was disposed of 

 as pit-wood or for fencing. 



The creosoting plant, erected during the summer of 1893, has 

 proved very usefid ; with it, fencing-posts have been rendered as 

 durable, or more so, as similar posts of larch, and they have been 

 turned out at a cheaper rate. A large quantity of creosoted Scots 

 fir boarding has also been prepared for use on the estate as well 

 as for sale. 



An 8-horse-power traction-engine was added to the plant in 



