2 06 transactions of royal scottish arboricultural society. 



Employment of Girls in Forestry Work. 



Mr John Waddell, forester, Foswell, Auchterarder, sends the 

 following notes in regard to work done by two girls on this 

 estate in the period from ist December 1917 to 30th March 

 1918, in replacement of male labour. 



For the first two months the work done was the thinning and 

 pruning of a plantation of about 35 acres in area, age twenty 

 years, situated at an elevation of from 900 to 1000 feet. The 

 girls worked in the plantation in all kinds of weather, except 

 when the trees were hanging with snow or the weather very 

 wet. They were very keen to learn, and after the first week 

 or two could be left to work by themselves, except that the 

 trees to be cut out were marked, and assistance given in carry- 

 ing out the cut trees, some of which were too heavy for the 

 girls. A considerable number of the trees were put into a shed, 

 and when it was snowing or very wet, the girls cut them up 

 there into pit-prop lengths. They soon learned to take the 

 gauge of the points of the props and also the lengths, and to 

 pile the props up neatly into the different sizes. At the time 

 of writing (13th April) two waggon-loads of pit-props had been 

 sent off, two other waggon-loads were ready to send off, and 

 there was still a quantity to cut up into lengths. 



In addition to thinning the plantation the girls have done 

 planting, mostly beating-up, as it was not possible to get 

 material for new fences to take in new plantations this year. 

 The girls proved fairly good with the spade. They had 

 previously done some garden work, which no doubt helped 

 them. 



They also assisted in felling heavy larch trees for fencing and 

 other estate purposes. In cutting the heavy trees with the 

 cross-cut saw, the two girls were stationed at one end of the 

 saw, one taking the saw-handle and the other a short rope 

 attached to the handle. The latter assisted by pulling the rope 

 at the same time that the first girl pulled the handle. On the 

 second day of work the two girls and the forester cut off root 

 eight larch trees, and also sned and cross-cut them into post 

 lengths and burnt the branches. The trees would average 

 about 25 cubic feet each. 



In the last fortnight of work wire-fencing was erected, and 

 here difficulty was experienced, though the girls got on fairly 



