90 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



(c) Rough, stony, or shaly Moor-edge or Clough-head. These could be 

 planted at a small outlay with Goise, Birch, and Mountain Ash. The 

 crops would not have a high value, but they would assist in binding the 

 loose slopes and in preventing landslips ; in time they would prepare 

 the soil for more profitable trees. The embankment at Mixenden would be 

 greatly improved by similar planting, 



(d) The heather or high Moor?- This was not so carefully inspected on this 

 visit, because it is advisable to have the lower grounds planted first, and 

 thence to extend the woods on to the high moor. Moors of this kind have 

 not been much planted near Halifax, except in the Hebden valley, but in 

 the North Riding and in the north of the West Riding, plantations of 

 conifers do well on the moorland. The financial success of moorland woods 

 has been shown in many parts of Scotland, where we have seen timber felled 

 which brought a high price. It might be suggested that in the case of the 

 moors above Ogden, some experimental plantations should be made to test 

 the capacity of the soil, and to ascertain the most suitable trees. 



Altogether the area seems well adapted for the formation of woods, while 

 at the present time it offers great facilities for economical planting. At 

 present the timber-supply of Britain is mainly dependent on imports, but 

 those qualified to judge are unanimous in their opinion that the supplies of 

 exporting countries cannot long be maintained. The present price of well- 

 grown timber warrants a good return for the outlay incurred, and the 

 proximity of many manufacturing centres ensures a market. As to initial 

 expenditure and cost of upkeep, I leave others to speak, but it seems to me 

 that an annual grant, continued for a number of years, is the best means of 

 meeting the case. If the scheme is to be a success, the object to be kept 

 always in view is the production of good timber. This can only be attained 

 by making the plantations large, planting the trees thick, and maintaining 

 a regular system of tending and thinning. The haphazard filling of odd 

 corners with trees, or making thin belts or small clumps, can yield no 

 profit ; one 50-acre wood well planted is much more valuable than fifty 

 1-acre clumps. 



In this part of Yorkshire the scheme will be a new departure in the utilisa- 

 tion of waterworks grounds, but elsewhere they are utilised for woods. Loch 

 Katrine, from which Glasgow draws its water-supply, is closely wooded 

 almost all round. Dundee draws its water from two distinct areas, and on 

 each of these, woods are being formed on deserted farms or moorland. Lord 

 Masham's estate at Swinton, one of the new areas from which Leeds is to 

 draw its water-supply, is in many respects an area similar to Ogden, and 

 tree-planting is in progress there on a scale which promises to make it one of 

 the best wooded localities in Yorkshire. 



So far as we can judge, there is no reason why the land at Ogden, Brook- 

 house, and Mixenden should not be planted with trees, and become in a 

 short time a valuable asset, and later yield an actual revenue to the "Water- 

 works scheme. 



1 The moorland lies at an altitude of from 1000 to 1400 feet. A good pine-wood near 

 Skipton extends to 1300 feet above sea-level.— W. G. S. 



