I 62 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



between the contour lines of 200 and 700 feet, the elevation of the 

 loch being about 140 feet. Although the elevation of the forest 

 is comparatively low, it is nevertheless far removed from the 

 region of cultivation, a fact which no doubt largely accounts for 

 its present natural condition. The soil of the forest and district 

 is essentially of a peaty nature, while the formation immediately 

 below it is glacial drift. This drift in turn overlies schistose rocks, 

 which constitute the greater part of the solid rock in this district. 

 In general view the forest has a strikingly imposing appearance, 

 and there is an undoubted air of antiquity about it. What strikes 

 one first, perhaps, is the variety of colour which it presents. The 

 green canopy supported on the typically copper-coloured 

 branches of the crowns gives place to the deep bronze of the 

 boles, and finally culminates in the brilliant purple of the heather- 

 clad floor. The individual tree has a flattened umbrella-shaped 

 crown developed right at the top of an almost perfectly cylindrical 

 bole. It is interesting to contrast this habit of growth with that 

 of Scots pine in Rannoch, Speyside and Deeside forests, where 

 the trees are pyramidal in habit ; the stems, even of the older 

 trees, are far from " clean " ; and the foliage is distinctly grey. 

 The bole of the trees in Locheil Old Forest is encased in deeply 

 fissured bark, in some cases over 6 inches in thickness, with the 

 fissures often extending to within about half an inch of the cambial 

 ring. The density of the stock is now fairly low, although in 

 the past it was probably much greater, as the stems are clean to a 

 height of about 40 feet on the average. The following dimensions 

 and increments of some of the trees of this forest were obtained by 

 means of the Brandis hypsometer, and Pressler's increment borer. 



