1 70 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tilde — 750 feet — they show that vast tracts of similar ground in 

 the same valley might profitably be put under timber. 



No. 9 contains 62 acres, varies in altitude from sea-level up to 

 350 feet, and is composed in part of loam, decayed vegetable 

 matter, and stiff clay, the underlying rock being principally 

 argillaceous schist, and in a portion the Old Red Sandstone. 



This wood is forty years planted. Larch and Scots fir are the 

 chief trees, with ash, elm, oak, beech, birch, and alder in smaller 

 numbers. Throughout the wood the trees have done well, the 

 hardwoods in particular, and are now fully 50 feet in height ; 

 and, from having been allowed plenty of room, are stout and 

 bushy, and with stems girthing 4 feet to 5 feet at a yard from the 

 ground. The situation is, on the whole, well sheltered from the 

 south and west, from which points our most dreaded winds blow. 

 In certain parts the trees have been thinned out excessively, in 

 order to admit light and air for the production of brambles and 

 other game-covert plants. Indeed in some places the trees might, 

 so far as the pi-oduction of timber is concerned, stand twice as 

 thick as they are at present, and with this desirable result, that 

 the wood produced would be straight and clean, and consequently 

 of much greater value in the market. 



No. 10 extends to about 18 acres, and the soil is of fair quality, 

 being of a stiff loamy texture, resting on a retentive gravel subsoil, 

 well drained. Abies Douglasii, A. Smithiana, A. canadensis, Finns 

 strobus, the Norway maple, and oak, together with a few speci- 

 mens of birch, beech, and the winged elm ( Ulmus alata), constitute 

 the main crop of this plantation, which is situated on a sheltered 

 and level tract of ground, about a mile inland from the seashore. 



Although planted only twenty-nine years ago, Abies Douglasii has 

 attained to large dimensions, many of the specimens being almost 

 70 feet in height, and well branched to near the ground; this latter, 

 the result of careful and timely thinning. Several of the stems of 

 the larger trees girth fully 7 feet at a yard from the ground, and 

 some even exceed that measurement. Abies Smithiana has also 

 thriven in a remarkable manner, and formed fine bushy specimens, 

 with beautiful dark-green pendulous branches. The timber is of a 

 firm texture, with a decidedly pretty grain. Growing, as these 

 trees are, principally along the margin of the plantation, and 

 Ijeing visible from the adjoining road and railway, they have a 

 very pleasing appearance, their drooping spray and shapely out- 

 line imparting a character peculiarly their own. Pinus strobus, 

 although of large size, has not done so well as might have been 



