86 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



invitation for want of time. On reaching Laggan Bridge, the 

 party disembarked and were met by Captain EUice, Mr George 

 Malcolm, factor, and Mr M'Lean, forester. 



The following plantations were visited and are here described 

 from notes kindly supplied by Captain EUice and Mr 

 Malcolm : — 



1. North Laggan Plantation. — Larch and Scots pine, planted 

 1877 and 1878. The attention of the party was called to a part 

 of this plantation below the road, where the larch had suffered 

 so severely from disease that Mrs Ellice condemned it to be cut 

 down in 1893. The forester, Mr M'Lean, asked that he might 

 be allowed to thin it. He obtained leave to do so, and the 

 remaining trees have made an astonishing improvement. The 

 members examined the stump of a tree which Captain Ellice 

 kindly had felled for them. It showed 10 years' good growth, 

 then 5 years' stagnation caused by disease, followed by a 

 remarkable increase of timber since the thinning to which 

 reference has above been made. 



2. Well of the Heads. — This plantation, formed in 1865 to 

 1868, has thriven well. 



3. Craiglea, planted about 1820. The remains of a splendid 

 plantation. Mr Malcolm observes that " this old wood has been 

 as valuable as a gold mine to the estates of Glengarry and Glen 

 Quoich, for, till recently, all supplies of timber — larch, fir, and 

 spruce — necessary for estate purposes, have been obtained from 

 it. At what date this wood began to be drawn upon for useable 

 timber is not known, but it has afforded a steady and sometimes 

 extensive yield for at least 60 years. Fifty years ago it contained 

 a fine crop of magnificent larch, some specimens of which remain. 

 Within this period it has been subjected to several very severe 

 losses by gales. In 1865, no fewer than 4000 trees were blown 

 down. There was another extensive windfall in 1881. From 

 these windfalls, as well as from several sales of lots of larch on 

 the root, large sums have accrued to the estate." In the lower 

 part of Craiglea, there are some fine specimens of exotic conifers 

 —a nobilis, planted in 1866, is now over 90 feet high, and the 

 ground round it is thickly covered with seedlings. 



After leaving Craiglea, the party traversed the policies of 

 Invergarry House, where they were particularly struck with a 

 fine healthy specimen of Abies nordtna?i?iiana. They then 

 repaired to the hotel where they were kindly entertained at lunch 



