THE ISLAND OF ARRAN AS A FIELD FOR PLANTING. 343 
by careful and judicious selection, and planting of “ shelter-belts” 
of those trees best suited for exposed maritime situations, and 
once established, forests of finer varieties would rise up in the 
shelter of those belts. Notwithstanding that some of the 
mountain ranges run in a south-west and north-east direction, 
many quiet and sheltered glens, lying at right angles to the 
prevailing winds, might well be clad with timber; and those less 
favourably situated could also be adapted to the same useful 
purpose of timber production by the sheltering method above 
suggested. 
Including the islets of Holy Isle and Pladda, Arran has an area 
of 103,950 acres. Of this, at present about 23,000 acres are under 
arable and pasture lands, 2300 acres under roads, water, etc., and 
about 1360 acres under wood, thus leaving over 77,000 acres 
lying waste, and crying out to be dealt with in some profitable 
manner. That the whole of this could be profitably planted is of 
course an impossibility, but many acres which at present yield no 
appreciable return could be utilised for sylviculture, and made a 
profitable field for the capitalist who might feel inclined to lay out 
his money in such an investment. In the northern parts of the 
island there is a large area that could not possibly be made 
to grow timber—a great part of the land lying upwards of 1000 
feet above sea-level, and having no depth of soil. In many 
places, in fact, there is nothing but bare rocks and beds of shingle. 
Up to a certain altitude these places could be sown with the 
seeds of trees suitable for the climate. The southern part, how- 
ever, is not quite so hostile to vegetation, for the hills have a less 
altitude, in few cases reaching over 1200 feet, and in several 
instances clothed with grass to their very summits. Neither is 
the bare rock so extensive, and in many parts natural wood has 
already taken possession of the ground, But although that is 
the case, the southern portion of the island is not nearly so 
suitable for timber growing as the northern, for, owing to the 
manner in which the ground slopes on all sides to the sea, the 
exposure is so great as to make it next to impossible to grow any 
kind of timber except that of the trees best suited for maritime 
situations. It would be unreasonable, then, to suppose that the 
whole of the 77,000 acres, or anything like that area, could be 
planted, but suppose that one-fourth (a very moderate estimate) 
could be utilised for forest culture, what a material increase there 
would be in the comparative value of Arran. Of the 77,000 
