244 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
on one acre in the younger woods and new plantations will 
be as follows :— 
Spruce— 
Number of trees, . : , : .. 900 
Mean height, . . : ; . 55 feet 
Mean diameter at 4 feet 3 has from 
the ground, ; . 64 inches 
which represents a volume of 4000 Coren girth) cubic feet of 
wood, down to 3 inches in diameter. 
Scots Fir— 
Number of trees, . ; P ; Rare ti. | 
Mean height, . : é : . Ol feet 
Mean diameter, . , . 63 inches 
representing a volume of nearly 3250 cubic feet. 
If it be further assumed that the two species will occupy 
equal areas, the average volume of the annual final fellings 
over the entire working circle will amount to 3600 cubic feet 
per acre. An estimate, based on the above data, could be fully 
justified ; but in order to provide for contingencies, and to be 
on the safe side, the figure has been reduced to 3000 (quarter- 
girth) cubic feet, amounting to 60,000 cubic feet per annum on a 
felling-area of 204 acres (taken as 20 acres). 
Tt has been said (p. 232) that the rate now paid for imported 
spruce and Scots fir timber, delivered at the mines, amounts 
to 8d. per (quarter-girth) cubic foot ; and that the corresponding 
rate for rougher timber of these species brought from the north 
of Scotland is 6d., which represents a nett price in the Raith 
woods of 5d. The value of high-class timber is much more likely 
to rise than to fall; and 7d. per (quarter-girth) cubic foot is a 
moderate estimate of the price that will readily be obtainable at 
the mines for the class of timber now to be grown; this repre- 
sents a rate of 6d. per cubic foot in the woods. At that price, 
the value of the final fellings on an acre, at the age of 40 years, 
will amount to £75; and seeing that the market is amply 
secured, that poles thinned out of woods 25 years old and 
upwards will yield some pit-wood, while larch that has stood 
throughout two rotations will enhance the value of the stock 
to an important extent, and that all waste wood is saleable as 
fuel, the returns from these woods may be safely estimated as 
follows :—Allowing £75 as the value per acre of the final crop of 
