168 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tree. Some of it measure about 50 feet in height, and with 

 straight, clean stems girthing 5 feet at a yard from the ground. 



Last autumn, the branches of the oaks were pruned hard back, 

 so as to give ample room for the Abies Donglasii, which, with 

 Pinus strohus, is intended to form the succeeding crop. 



Blackthorn, bramble, rough grasses, bracken, lady fern, and 

 Blechnum, boreale carpet the ground. 



No. 5 is 110 acres in extent, and of thirty-five years' growth. 

 It is situated on a gently north-sloping hill, at elevations vai-ying 

 from 200 feet to 400 feet, and about a mile distant from the sea- 

 shore. Over the whole wood the soil may be said to be a fertile 

 sandy loam, except in one or two places where it is stiffish and 

 inclined to clay. With the exception of about 5 acres of scrubby 

 oak, the croj) is larch and Scots fir, with a few Pinus Laricio and 

 P. Austriaca. Having been attended to in the way of thinning 

 and pruning, the trees have thriven well, the average height of 

 the larches being 45 feet, and containing nearly 10 cubic feet of 

 timber each. 



The Scots fir is of about the same size, while Pinus Laricio is 

 towering 10 feet above any of the others, and with stems propor- 

 tionately thick. Thinning is at present required, but as prices for 

 timber are unusually low, and the individual trees not actually 

 suffering from overcrowding, this operation has been defei-red for 

 a time The oaks, which form what was the original wood, are 

 small and of but little value, and are being gradually removed 

 and their places filled by other and more valuable trees. In 

 addition to the trees already mentioned there are a few specimens 

 of ash, beech, elm, and sycamore which are thriving in a fairly 

 satisfactory manner. Gorse and broom grow in several of the 

 open rocky parts, while of other natural underwood the blackthorn, 

 bramble, raspberry, elder, and bilberry, form a large proportion. 



No. 6 is 25 acres in extent, and may best be described as 

 a worthless plantation to the forester, but an invaluable one for 

 the sportsman. It is situated on a rocky hill side, with a north 

 aspect, and within half-a-mile of the sea. The soil, which is thin 

 over the wood generally, is rock debris with a small admixture 

 of loam and peat. Dwarf and stunted oaks form the main crop, 

 while hazels, also of diminutive growth, and a few blackthorns, 

 are interspersed in open places, especially around the margin. 

 Save a small sura realised on one or two occasions from the sale 

 of rods for mending the near-lying fishing weirs, no revenue is 



