REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OX FORESTRY. 119 



former witness before the Committee said he thought the effect of 

 planting forests was to make the climate more equable and tem- 

 perate ] " " That is the general opiniou, but I could not say so 

 from experience." — " You cannot say that it affects the rainfall 

 either ]" "I could not say." — " Have you a great deal of rain?" 

 " No, it is not a very wet district in Perthshire. We have an 

 average rainfall of 30 to 40 inches." " Have these plantations 

 been successful as a commercial speculation 1" "I think so."- — • 

 " But at present prices they are not?" "Even at present prices 

 they are better than if left as moorland in their original state. 

 Before 1879 we were getting 14d. and lod. a foot for larch, and 

 now it is down to 9d. and lOd. Scots fir freely brought 8d. a 

 cubic foot; now it is only id., and there is very little demand at 

 that." — " I suppose anything over Is. a foot for larch pays well?" 

 "Less than Is. pays well." 



" From whatever cause the cultivation of woodlands is much less 

 profitable than it used to be when you began your career in con- 

 nection with forests ; it does not pay so well V " Oak coppice 

 does not pay nearly so well. The reason is that other foreign sub- 

 stances are used for tanning leather." — " Does larch pay as well ? " 

 " No." — " With regard to the 366 acres of larch, you said that they 

 were planted on land from 300 to 1000 feet above the level of the 

 sea? " " Yes, I am speaking from recollection of the figures on the 

 Ordnance Survey." — " What is the highest elevation at which larch 

 can be profitably grown?" "From 1000 to 1200 feet, provided 

 the soil and situation are suitable." — " You said also that there is 

 a good deal of waste land in Perthshire that might be planted ? " 

 "Yes." — "Is much of that waste land at a high elevation?" 

 " There is a good deal of it higher than 1200 feet ; but it would not 

 be advisable to plant higher than that." — " But much of it below 

 that is lit for planting?" "A great extent." 



" With regard to this disease in the larch that has caused so 

 much ravage ; has it increased of late years ? " " Yes, I think it 

 has." — "Can you tell us when the disease first appeared?" "A 

 cotton-like substance was noticed first about 1800, and since then 

 it has increased very much." — "Has any way of combating the 

 disease or any remedy yet been discovered or made known ? " "I do 

 not think there has."^" Have you found the Scots fir also subject 

 to the ravages of an aphis or any other disease? " " I have found 

 a white substance caused by a coccus on the Scots fir, but it does 

 not kill it." — "' In the county of Surrey I find the Scots fir is 



