THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 139 



question of close planting and subsequent thinning, which has 

 been occupying the serious attention of the foresters of the 

 country for some time past, discussed in a practical manner. As 

 is -well known, opinions on these points have been undergoing 

 considerable modifications in Scotland. Continental ideas on the 

 subject of close planting and late thinning have been gaining 

 ground. In Germany, where wood has for many years been 

 grown on a thoroughly commercial basis, the trees are planted 

 thickly, and allowed to grow as a dense thicket for twenty or 

 twenty-five years before any thinning is commenced. This has 

 the effect of pulling up the trees to a good height, with straight 

 stems, preventing the formation of side branches of any size, 

 and of thereby securing timber of good quality without knots. 

 Hitherto in Britain, where woods are generally planted for protec- 

 tion or for game covers, the system has been to thin early, with 

 the result that trees were grown well suited for railway sleepers or 

 other rough uses, but nob so well fitted for constructive purposes. 



The woodlands first visited, therefore, by the party were the 

 Cononbank Scots fir plantations. Part of the newer portion, 

 containing about 130 acres, was planted with larch and Scots fir 

 thirteen years ago, in ground which had formerly been rough 

 pasture. The trees were twc-year seedlings one year transplanted 

 when set out at distances of from 3 h to 4 feet apart, or at the 

 rate of 3000 trees per acre. Rabbits and hares had nearly killed 

 out the larch, but the Scots firs had thriven well, and were stand- 

 ing from 18 to 20 feet in height, and showing signs of vigorous 

 growth. No thinning had yet been done. The other portion of 

 the new wood, about 140 acres in extent, was planted in a similar 

 manner seventeen years ago, on a light moorland soil. No thin- 

 nings had been made, and the trees were also exceedingly well 

 grown. 



Lord Lovat, and afterwards Mr Dewar, made short explanatory 

 statements in regard to the plantations, his Lordship remarking 

 that he meant to carry out Continental ideas regarding the 

 management of these woods, and not do anything in the way of 

 thinning for a good many years to come. Most of the members 

 of the party, a good many of whom had been in Germany with 

 the Excursion of 1895, concurred with Lord Lovat's view, 

 Mr Munro Ferguson expressing the prevailing opinion that the 

 woods should be let alone as long as the trees are healthy and 

 able to clear themselves of the lower branches. 



