GROWTH OF THE SITKA SPRUCE AND OTHER TREES. l6l 



by a clump of old wood. Every winter there have been a good 

 many deaths from cold and exposure, and apparently before long 

 hardly any individuals will be left to tell their melancholy tale. 



The Robinias also came up well, but this tree seems quite 

 unable to produce a top, and although very ornamental when 

 once in leaf, it is late in starting to grow, and appears quite 

 useless as a future forest tree in this country. 



The Sitka spruce, on the other hand, came up well, and 

 throve remarkably from the very start. The seed of this and 

 the other species was obtained from Johannes Rafn, Copenhagen. 

 After transplanting there are practically no losses to record. 

 The Sitka spruce and Japanese larch, which, with European 

 larch from Silesia, were sown in 1904 in the low-level nursery, 

 were transplanted to the high site, and are now mostly all planted 

 out. The spruce promises to be the best of all trees for an 

 exposed situation with a loamy and stiff rather moist soil, such 

 as is common in the district. In rate of growth the Japanese 

 larch slightly surpasses it, but so far as strength to resist wind 

 is concerned the Sitka spruce is apparently the better tree. In 

 a gale that swept the hill last autumn, both European and 

 Japanese larches were considerably shaken, but the largest 

 Sitka spruces, with their robust stems well anchored to large 

 roots, never budged in the least degree. 



The King's Coronation in 1902 was celebrated on my estates 

 in an evanescent way by bonfires, and, in a permanent and 

 pract'cal way, by building model workmen's dwellings and 

 planting trees. After eight years have passed, the woods have 

 entirely disappointed the hopes of their loyal planter, and have 

 behaved in the very reverse of the monumental way that was 

 expected of them in connection with that great event. 



I began with great enthusiasm and arboricultural zeal, 

 without counting the cost, and planted (A) 1 1 acres on the 

 Campsie Hills above Drumnessie Farm on Banton estate, on 

 the looo-feet contour line, with 39,000 trees, chiefly spruce, 

 Scots fir, Corsican pine, and some larch. The situation is 

 bare and exposed, and the soil a poor, thin clay, with a 

 covering of rough bent grass on an outcrop of whinstone 

 along the steep hill slope. The trees were mostly notched-in 

 during the autumn and winter months by an experienced 

 forester. The result is that now, out of all the 39,000, hardly 

 one solitary tree is to be seen. 



