ON ESTABLISHING AN EXPERIMENTAL FOREST AREA. 155 
XII. On Establishing an Experimental Forest Area in Scotland, 
for Instruction in the Theory and Practice of Scientific 
Forestry. By Artaur C, Forses, Wood Manager, Bowood, 
Wilts (“ Moon Raker ”’). 
INTRODUCTION. 
If we consider for a moment as to what period the present 
system of Scottish forestry owes its existence, we shall probably 
find that the introduction of the larch by the Duke of Athole, in 
or about the year 1738, gave the chief impetus to that planting of 
bare or heath-covered ground which has resulted in the present 
system of managing plantations in Scotland. Before that period 
Scotland appears to have been sparsely wooded, and with the more 
or less unsettled state of the country, planting was not carried on 
to any extent. But with the introduction of the larch, landowners 
saw a means of deriving a good return from poor land, and adding 
to the amenity of their property, by planting that tree, which not 
only proved the means of increasing the woodland area, but also of 
originating a system of sylviculture, which, while undoubtedly 
suited to the requirements of the larch, has been applied to 
every other species in Scottish plantations with questionable 
results. 
Another feature of Scottish forestry may also be traced to the 
introduction of the larch to a great extent, viz., clear-felling without 
subsequent replanting. Rightly or not, the larch is regarded as a 
tree which ought never to follow on, or be planted on ground which 
has recently been cleared of a crop of the same species. As a result 
of this, ground cleared of larch is frequently left unplanted for many 
years, and sometimes abandoned as a woodland area altogether. 
These latter cases are partly due to the fact that the herbage under 
larch is comparatively good, and the grazing rent from a larch 
plantation frequently equals, if it does not exceed, that from 
adjoining hill pasture. After clearing off a crop of trees, therefore, 
the question arises whether this rent should be sacrificed, and the 
ground replanted with a less profitable species, or remain as rough 
pasture land. Irregular clearing and planting of this kind intro- 
duces several objectionable features into Scottish forestry. Amongst 
these may be mentioned the uncertainty which exists regarding the 
nett annual value of woods on an estate, and the impossibility of 
