AFFORESTATION AND LOCAL TAXATION. 5 



As all the land occupied by crofters is by statute earmarked 

 for their occupation in perpetuity, the only lands left capable 

 of afforestation must be taken from subjects / and g. Sheep 

 farms and deer forests are usually composed of both high and 

 low ground, the latter being necessary for wintering purposes, 

 and unfortunately the low ground is much smaller in area than 

 the high ground. 



I think one may fairly take the area below the 800 feet 

 contour line as less than one-fourth of the total area in such 

 districts under sheep and deer — so that if there are 120,000 

 acres occupied by them at present, the practical planting area 

 will not exceed 30,000 acres, from which a very considerable 

 deduction will have to be made to allow for lochs, burns, bogs, 

 peat mosses, and rocky bits which are of no value for either 

 wintering or afforestation. 



If these portions are eliminated, the area capable of afforesta- 

 tion will be reduced by about one-fifth, but possibly 25,000 

 acres might be found capable of being planted. 



Suppose the whole of this area were taken for afforestation it 

 would mean that no wintering would be left for the sheep and 

 very litde for the deer. The sheep grounds would become 

 valueless, as they could only be used for summer grazing ; the 

 grouse-shooting rents would practically disappear, and the rents 

 from the deer forest areas would be very greatly reduced — at 

 any rate for some fifteen or twenty years till the plantations grew 

 up sufficiently to admit of deer being allowed into them for 

 wintering. Now how would this work out? — the substitution of 

 plantings for sheep would entail firstly, the removal of the twenty- 

 two sheep farmers, their families and shepherds, who are 

 presently in possession. Of the eight shootings four are grouse 

 moors, these would disappear together with the lodges, gardens, 

 keepers and under-keepers, which they presently maintain. The 

 four remaining shootings, which are partially grouse but mainly 

 deer forest, would remain, but with no grouse ground and a very 

 reduced number of (ieer. This would mean a further reduction 

 in gamekeepers, and also a very reduced rental. I calculate 

 that if all the 25,000 acres were taken for afforestation, it would 

 mean the abolition of the whole of the sheep farm rental and 

 a reduction by about four-fifths of the shooting rental. That 

 means;^ 1 395 -1-^4000 = ;^5395 out of a total rental of ;£i 1,450. 

 Presumably the 25,000 acres would be rated at a prairie value of 



