54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Scotland, such as the field maple, Lawson's cypress, Thuja 

 gigantea, Abies nohilis, Abies concolor. Some of the silver firs, 

 Scots pine and larch have attained a great size, girthing more 

 than lo feet in circumference at breast-height. The finest 

 specimens of these trees will be retained, and it is intended to 

 plant in addition a large variety of trees and shrubs, many of 

 which may be of no commercial value, but may fitly have a 

 place in the arboretum attached to a forestry educational 

 centre. 



In the field to the west of the mansion-house a nursery 

 extending to an acre and a half has been laid out, and is 

 surrounded by rabbit-proof netting. A nursery will be a 

 necessary adjunct of the Forestry Department of the College. 

 When conditions become normal again after the war, and 

 forestry students resume work at the College, the intention is to 

 demonstrate all the branches of arboriculture in the Craibstone 

 Avoods, so far as is possible on a small area. The method of 

 sowing and raising seedlings will be shown, and the seedlings 

 grown on the estate will be used to replant the areas that are 

 cleared. 



A far more extensive enterprise than this is, however, in view, 

 and what is to be now seen at Craibstone is not a college 

 nursery or estate nursery, but a national forest nursery, the 

 first of its kind in Scotland. The Board of Agriculture for 

 Scotland have rightly seen that one of the great subjects 

 demanding attention after the war will be the afforestation of 

 the country, with a view to strengthening our timber resources 

 and repairing the tremendous cutting that is going on during 

 these times of emergency. There will be a great demand for 

 trees, and as it takes three to four years, in most cases, to raise 

 trees ready for planting, no time should be lost in getting a stock 

 of plants ready. The Board have recently been encouraging 

 professional nurserymen to increase their stocks of plants, and 

 have in addition given a grant to the College for the formation 

 of this nursery at Craibstone, where some two or three million 

 trees are now being raised, sufficient to plant, a few years hence, 

 many hundreds of acres. 



The nursery is laid out in seed-beds some 35 yards long and 

 4 feet wide. A fine tilth was formed, and the seed was sown 

 broadcast in May and the beginning of June. The wet spring 

 was trying, but the seed has done well, and the young trees are 



