25 
forester on the Scone estates, the well-known Mr William 
M‘Corquodale, took great interest, and pointed to it with 
laudable pride on former visits of the Society, as a fine 
example of successful tree culture, combined with the orna- 
mental and game-protecting character of the undergrowth. 
Proceeding up the New Scone road, and turning in through 
a gate on the left, a long walk was taken through a fine oak 
wood of 300 acres, and about eighty years of age; and also 
through the extensive Muirward plantations, where thriving 
trees of many kinds were seen at various stages of growth. 
These fine woods afforded an opportunity to the practical 
foresters for comparing the growth and thriftiness of the various 
kinds of forest trees when grown under similar circumstances. 
A considerable area of Scots fir which was passed, was raised, 
we were informed, by Lord Stormont, from seed gathered in the 
“Black Wood” of Rannoch, and was planted here in 1849. It 
was thriving well, and exhibited all the characteristic features 
of the Rannoch “black fir” in its native habitat. In the 
Muirward plantations, Scots fir and larch were the predominant 
species, but many of the newer Coniferz have been introduced, 
particularly in the young plantations, and they all seem to be 
thriving remarkably well, especially Abzes grandis, A. nobilis, 
A. Menziesii, and the Douglas fir, the last being a favourite 
tree with the late Mr M‘Corquodale, who planted it freely 
on the Scone estates wherever it was likely to thrive, and, so 
far as was seen, that was everywhere. A space of 13 acres 
in the plantations we were passing through was planted by 
him, in 1857, with a pure crop of Douglas fir, and the company 
examined it with great interest as they quickly walked through 
it, the trees being vigorous and well grown, and promising, 
when matured, to prove a remunerative crop. Six of them 
accurately measured in the autumn of 1891 by Mr Bayne, the 
forester, were respectively as follows :— 
Dovueuas Firs 1x MUIRWARD. 
No. Height. Girth at 5 feet up. 
ft. ins. ft. ings. 
1 67 6 ait gy 
2 58 2 4 7 
3 62 4 3 11 
4 70 66 4 384 
5 58 10 Be oy 
6 62 5 2 11} 
