THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 75 



centre presents its own peculiar problem. At Fersit, where 

 the soils are good and the altitudes are moderate, there is every 

 prospect of good crops of timber being obtained. But the 

 question of winter grazing for the deer has to be taken into 

 account, and if all the lower ground were permanently enclosed, 

 the value of the higher ground would be very seriously reduced. 

 For this reason, provision is to be made in the scheme of future 

 management for leaving at least one-third of the forest land 

 in the lower grounds open to grazing by the deer. As the 

 land contains a good proportion of bracken-covered soil, the 

 scheme tentatively provides for the use of larch chiefly for 

 the drier ground and of Sitka spruce in the moister portions, it 

 being considered that these two species will give the best timber 

 results, and permit of the opening of the forest enclosures to 

 pasturage by the deer at an early period. Similar problems 

 appear in connection with sheep grazings, and the question arises 

 whether, in the portions of land selected for afforestation, it might 

 not be desirable to set aside some of the low-lying grazing ground 

 entirely for pasturage, in preference to allowing animals to graze 

 in the woods at certain stages of the rotation. 



" The chief objection to combining grazing with forestry is 

 that where grazing is practised, the most intensive systems of 

 forestry must to a certain extent be ruled out. If grazing within 

 the woodlands is to have much value a certain openness of 

 canopy is necessary. The best woodland grazing will certainly 

 be obtained underneath the light shade of the larch, but one may 

 doubt whether it will always be possible to maintain a healthy 

 growth of larch under such conditions and without the aid 

 afforded by admixture with some soil-improving species. On the 

 other hand, if the best soil conditions are maintained by a 

 complete shading of the ground surface, the value of the grazing 

 will be reduced to a minimum. There is, however, no need to 

 be unduly pessimistic about such details, and time will show 

 what modifications may become necessary to meet such cases. 



"The Loch Ossian planting centre, the only one which the 

 members of the Society had time to visit, differs in several 

 respects from that at Fersit. Where there is good soil, 

 planting may often be successfully carried out at high altitudes 

 and on exposed sites. In well-sheltered localities, fair results 

 may often be obtained where the soils are comparatively poor. 

 But where high altitudes and other unfavourable climatic 



