PLAN FOR THE PIT-WOOD WORKING CIRCLE, RAITH ESTATE. 227 
woods are organised under a plan, suggestions of overcutting 
could not have the smallest force ; and where such a plan exists 
the estate need not, through the well-founded sensitiveness of 
the proprietor, suffer loss occasioned by the woods standing after 
they have ceased to grow profitably. Then again, the organisa- 
tion of woods with a more or less equal annual out-turn of well- 
known classes of produce, has a most favourable effect on the 
local markets, and renders possible the foundation in the 
neighbourhood of industrial undertakings connected with forest 
produce, which an uncertain supply of the raw material on which 
they depend would not encourage. Lastly, on the estate, every 
one concerned knows what is to be done, arrangements for 
work and sales can be made in advance, the workmen are more 
regularly employed, and mechanical means for transport can be 
effectively organised, with the result that work in all its branches 
is better and more cheaply performed. It may be added that 
the proprietor is likely to take a more lively interest in his woods 
if they are worked on a settled plan, which he can understand 
and see carried out, and if he is satisfied that they are being 
made to yield the maximum revenue derivable from the soil, than 
if they are managed in a casual, haphazard fashion, and render 
uncertain returns. 
THE WORKING PLAN. 
SITUATION, GEOLOGICAL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE EstTATE. 
The estate of Raith, the property of Mr Munro Ferguson, 
M.P., is situated on the north-eastern shore of the Firth of 
Forth, in the parishes of Auchterderran, Abbotshall, Kinghorn, 
and Kinglassie, which form part of the county of Fife. The 
woods to which the working plan relates are at distances varying 
from two to five miles from the sea at Kirkcaldy. 
The region within which the woods lie belongs geologically 
to the Carboniferous system. The strata consist of a great series 
of sandstones and shales with accompanying limestone—these 
stratified rocks being invaded here and there by basalt. Over- 
lying all comes a ragged sheet of boulder-clay or til, partially 
filling the hollows and depressions, and thinning off upon the 
slopes and acclivities. Towards the sea-coast, where the ground 
is low and flat, the él is concealed below bedded clays and sand, 
the latter generally occurring at the surface.1_ The area occupied 
1 The above description of the geological characteristics of the property 
was kindly furnished by Professor James Geikie. 
