84 TRANSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



girls in ^h days. This type of wori< appears very suitable for 

 the woman forester, and figures for labour thus expended would 

 be valuable. 



In view of the increased demand for planting labour this- 

 season, the above results from actual experience may be useful. 

 Since giving up this work, the writer has been able to compare 

 results with those obtained for a gang of women working on the 

 Liverpool Corporation Catchment Area in Wales, which agree 

 with those obtained in Scotland in showing that, while 

 the employment of women in heavy work, such as trenching, 

 etc., is not profitable, in the lighter work of the nursery and 

 plantations, given good conditions for work and reasonable 

 hours, the labour of women will be a valuable factor in the 

 future of British forestry. 



7. The Birch in the Scottish Highlands. 



By Colonel Martin Martin. 



Probably the birch is one of the limited number of trees 

 indigenous to the land of the Gael, as well as to other primitive 

 districts such as the home of the Red Indian, for there is no 

 trace of a rumour as to its introduction. It is the most 

 picturesque accessory to our mountain landscapes, and has 

 employed the brush of Millais and of every painter who has 

 sought to portray Highland scenery, mixing as it does admirably 

 with the grouping of the red deer or the dash of the torrent 

 over linn and rapid. And again, it has a prominent place in 

 song. We all remember "The Birks of Aberfeldy," and also- 

 "The Birchen Babes," referring to the history of Achnacarry. 



But when it comes to appraising the commercial value of the 

 timber to be obtained from this tree, its reputation does not 

 stand so high, and it is very little in demand except for the 

 manufacture of spools or bobbins, and perhaps for household 

 furniture, for which it is said to be useful. Certainly birch bark 

 makes excellent canoes, but we have no use for these, and the 

 thick tough bark that serves for this purpose in America comes 

 from a different species than the Highland variety. 



All of us would regret the total disappearance of this most 

 graceful tree, as we should that of the red deer or the eagle. 

 Happily there is little chance of such extinction, but it is quite 



