202 REPORT ON A VISIT TO SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH FORESTS. 
forest, which some twenty years ago bad been cut down and con- 
verted into railway sleepers. The sight of the huge stumps, 
blackened by time, with their gnarled roots twisting themselves 
over the ground, gave us the idea of some vast charnel-house. This 
scene of utter ruin was indeed a sad spectacle, though the present 
proprietor is doing his best to again cover his estate with timber ; 
with a better system he might have been spared both time and 
expense. It is easy in Scotland to perpetuate a forest by natural 
means, and of this a practical proof was given us in two forests 
which we visited ; the one near Grantown, in Strathspey, the other 
at Beauly. In these the results obtained under the skilful and in- 
telligent direction of the gentlemen who manage these forests for 
their employers form a striking example of what may be done in 
the way of reproducing forests by natural means. In fact, nothing 
had been neglected which even the most critical forester could desire ; 
the gradation of age was here complete, and the reservation of 
specially vigorous trees, of known pedigree, duly carried out. 
The modus operandi here pursued consists simply in the ex- 
clusion of the sheep and deer, in the judicious thinning out of the 
growing crop, and in the removal of the mature seed-bearing trees, 
by successive fellings, as the young forest grows up and acquires 
more vigour. 
Nevertheless, we would not have it be supposed that the sheep 
need be absolutely debarred from all grazing in the forest; it is 
only in those portions where the undergrowth is very young that 
the damage caused is irreparable. We feel convinced that if, every 
year, certain portions of the forest best capable of supporting it 
were marked out for grazing, the quality of the pasturage would be 
greatly improved, and the heather would quickly disappear under 
the cover. 
It is an established fact, beyond all contradiction, that on any 
soil, whatever its geological origin, a complete covering of forest 
vegetation will kill the heather as soon as the trees reach the age of 
between 30 and 40 years, Suppose then that 120 years be the 
term fixed for the existence of the trees in any portion of the 
forest, and that the trees of 100 years of age and over are reserved, 
there would still be one-half of the forest always open to the sheep, 
and the other closed. But, at the same time, it is certain that this 
open half, owing to its superior quality, will furnish pasturage for 
at least twice as many head of cattle or sheep as the same quantity 
of moorland. 
