256 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARRORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ran from perhaps 18 inches to several feet. I went carefully 

 through the plantations, which ran up to an age of about thirty 

 years, and I came to the conclusion that success depends in the 

 first place on the depth of the bog. Wherever it was not more 

 than about three feet, the plantations did well ; as soon as the 

 depths increased beyond a yard, the growth of the trees fell off at 

 once. Places with a depth of 4| or 5 feet could be picked out at 

 a glance by the inferior development of the trees. This I con- 

 sider a very important lesson, which I learned on this tour. 



As regards species, Burgsittensen showed that splendid oak can 

 be produced on bog not more than 2 feet deep, and fair oak up 

 to 3 feet deep, but not beyond. Weymouth pine here also had 

 done particularly well ; Scotch pine came next, and then spruce. 

 Of larch not much was seen here. 



The conclusion to be derived from the above notes may be thus 

 worded : — " On old drained and manured bog-lands profitable 

 forestry can be carried on ; irrespective of their depth ; on newly 

 drained bog-lands profitable forestry ceases with a depth of bog 

 of about 3 feet, unless such land is manured or improved by 

 bringing mineral soil on to it." 



3. Proposals Regarding Future Operations. 



(a) Knockboy. 



Guided by the considerations described above, I have arrived 

 at the conclusion that profitable forestry, as far as the production 

 of timber is concerned, is not likely to be practicable on the 

 Knockboy estate, on account of the heavy salt spray and the 

 strong westerly gales ; but that it is pi'acticable a little farther 

 away from the western sea-board, especially on lands which are 

 somewhat protected against the severe gales. 



At the same time, as already a considerable outlay has been 

 incurred at Knockboy, I should not abandon the experiment, 

 because, with a comparatively small additional outlay, final con- 

 clusions will be arrived at. The land is fenced and drained, and 

 the replanting of parts of the area will not cost much. Should 

 the production of useful timber ultimately prove impossible, 

 then at any rate a valuable shooting preserve will have been 

 established, which is nob unlikely to yield an adequate return 

 on the outlay. With this object in view I should propose the 

 following operations : — The first object to be aimed at is to give 



