REPORT ON A VISIT TO THE FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 1) 
delayed for other ten to twenty years, the woods would give a 
permanent yield of timber fit for sleepers, while the main crop 
would develop into heavy timber suitable for all structural 
purposes. Instead of removing well-formed trees in the early 
thinnings, one ought to fell only such as are badly shaped, 
and I am afraid that this system is at present too little 
practised. 
Apart from the Scots fir, I found that the woods which I visited 
consisted for the most part of the larch—especially near Dunkeld — 
and the oak. During the time at my disposal, I was not able to 
make close inspection of the system on which the larch woods are 
managed, but it is probable that my views do not clash to any 
great extent with those of Scottish foresters regarding the sylvi- 
cultural treatment of this tree. 
At Scone Palace I inspected a very fine oak-wood, from ninety 
to one hundred years old. The trees were showing vigorous 
growth, and one can only regret that the ground was not more 
fully stocked, as would have been the case under a different 
system of management, and which would have resulted in the 
production of finer and more valuable stems. 
Between Callander and Balmaha I saw numerous woods of oak 
coppice on the lower slopes of the hills. These woods are 
managed on a rotation of twenty-one years, and furnish tanning 
bark and light timber, the latter being partly used for firewood. 
On the steep slopes with a shallow soil the system of coppicing is 
to be commended, but, with tanning bark as the main object, the 
manner of thinning appeared to leave much to be desired. Tanning 
bark should be as smooth on the surface as possible, and the stems 
which furnish it should be long and clean. I found, however, 
that owing to severe thinning about the seventh and fourteenth 
years, the bark was coarse and inferior in quality, and the stems 
were short and branchy. It also appeared to me that many of the 
stools were too old, and should have been replaced by fresh 
saplings. The presence of standards in a coppice is also objection- 
able. These have, for the most part, originated in stool-shoots, 
and in the shallow soil are short and bushy. They thus cast too 
dense a shade on the coppice poles, whose growth is materially 
interfered with. 
At Airthrey I found the ash growing well, in conjunction with 
the sycamore and beech—a mixture which gives satisfactory 
results. During the next few years such woods ought to be 
