ARBORICULTURE IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY. 297 
little or nothing has been done in the way of repairing the 
damage. 
One great drawback to the more general development of the 
woods is the entire absence of home nurseries. As far as the writer 
is aware, there is no estate in the three counties in the possession of 
one, There are, however, excellent public nurseries at Annan, 
Dumfries, Maxwelltown, Stranraer, etc., where good collections of 
all kinds of forest trees are kept in stock. A common custom 
on many, and the general rule on small estates, is to have the 
planting executed by contract by nurserymen ; the contract price to 
include plants and labour per acre, and the plantation to be upheld 
for three years, that is, the filling up of all blanks from natwral 
eauses. The general system adopted for all classes of trees is 
pit-planting ; Scots fir, etc., being usually inserted at four years 
of age, 
Ground game are too numerous on nearly every estate, and 
plantations suffer much from their ravages, the only effectual cure 
being wire netting, which consequently increases the expense. Yet, 
although the woods abound with squirrels, I have never noticed any 
damage done by them barking the trees, as is so common in the 
north of Scotland. 
A ready sale is found for wood of good quality ; ash, elm, and 
oak readily fetching from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per cubic foot. Clean larch 
of suitable size is in demand for boat-building, and commands a 
good price. Birch and alder might be more extensively grown, as 
there is always a ready sale for this class of wood locally to the 
cloggers. The usual prices of spruce and Scots fir is 6d. to 8d., 
and larch 1s. per foot. 
Pruning hardwoods is very little practised, the result being that 
short boles with widely ramified limbs are the rule. This is the 
case particularly among hedgerow timber, and forms a cause of con- 
tinual complaint by the agricultural tenant, and not without reason, 
as the spread of branches over the land renders, on some farms, 
several acres useless. In some instances the trees have had their 
lower branches cut off where they have interfered too much with the 
land, and in almost every case they have been amputated close to 
the trunk, causing a large wound, which in a few years entirely 
ruins the trees. The majority of this damaged class of timber 
when cut can be disposed of only to the bobbin-maker, usually 
realising from 4s, to 6s. per ton. Many of the trees are rendered 
useless even for this purpose, by having nails and staples driven 
