24 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



suitable trees, and are very much handicapped in that way. 

 Of course the various colleges, through the Scottish Board 

 of Agriculture, have tried to remedy this to a great extent, and 

 many of the proprietors have expressed their appreciation of 

 what has been done in this way. But, as Mr Leslie has said, 

 this is scarcely enough, and Advisory Officers have not sufficient 

 time at present to go over all these places so as to advise the 

 number of proprietors who are anxious to get their services. 

 We are practically half-time men, and if our time were entirely 

 taken up with that work there would still be a lot to do. And 

 again, in the east, as all over Scotland, there is this question 

 of rabbits. It has been serious at other times, but never so 

 serious as at this time. With the present cost of fencing material, 

 it is practically hopeless to attempt to enclose all the land to be 

 planted. Unless some compulsory measures are taken to 

 exterminate these pests, I do not see how it can be done. It 

 is all very well for one proprietor to do his best, but so long as 

 his neighbour across the fence takes no trouble at all, the whole 

 thing is hopeless. There should be compulsory measures that 

 would compel all proprietors to keep rabbits down. 



"The same statement is true of squirrels. In the North of 

 Scotland proprietors have for years taken precautions to destroy 

 these pests, but again there are others who take no interest, 

 and so the thing goes on. 



"Again, there is the burning of brushwood, which at the 

 present time covers a very large proportion of the plantable 

 areas of Scotland, and this is a much more important thing at 

 this moment than the planting of trees. Unless the ground is 

 thoroughly cleaned, it is no use spending money in planting 

 to have the trees destroyed within twelve months. One can 

 easily see, in walking through the country just now, that a very 

 large proportion of the middle-aged and younger plantations, 

 especially Scots pine, have been very seriously damaged by the 

 pine beetle, extraordinary damage being done. It is very 

 important that this matter should be taken up at once, and that 

 the whole area should be cleaned before any serious planting 

 takes place." 



Mr Acland. — "The points which have impressed me most in 

 what Mr Leslie and Mr Macdonald have said are, first of all, 

 that there is in many cases a considerable willingness to re- 



