TKANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



EOYAL SCOTTISH ARBOEICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I. A Discussion on Economic Planting.^ 



By George U. Macdoxald, Ilaystoun, Peebles, 



Lecturer on Forestry in the Edinburgh and East of Scotland 



College of Agriculture. 



The subject on which I venture to make a few remarks 

 to-day is one that must have been uppermost in the minds of 

 landowners and foresters for a very considerable time. I refer to 

 the cost of planting. Is it not a fact that to-day it costs more 

 than three times as much to plant an acre as it did some eight 

 years ago ? And is it not also a fact that the price of matured 

 and semi-matured timber to-day is as low, and I venture to 

 say that for certain grades it is even lower than it was previous 

 to 1914? That the prospects for the immediate future are 

 not too bright is evidenced by the fact that several of the 

 largest timber merchants in Scotland are to-day advertising 

 for sale the bulk of their plant. 



Under these circumstances, I ask how can we as individuals or 

 as a Society advise or attempt to encourage landowners ta 

 plant on any considerable scale unless we can first show how 

 the present extraordinarily high cost can be reduced ? 



I am aware that it is a difficult problem and that different 

 men will endeavour to solve it by different methods. After all 

 we need not quarrel about methods so long as the economy we 

 aim at is obtained ; but what we all must keep in view is that 

 whatever economy we practise, our guiding principle must be 

 economy with efficiency. Far better plant one acre efficiently 

 than three acres which may afterwards turn out a failure. 



My own personal opinion is that the question which calls for 



* A paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Society on Jan. 20, 1922. 

 VOL. XXXVI. PART I. A 



