S TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



trying that. In that way one could renew some of these 

 plantations quite well where there is a market for crate wood, 

 which is obtained from the stool shoots. You would have your 

 poplars and willow between the stools. There is a good deal 

 in what Dr Borthwick has suggested. 



" As to the squirrels ; I think the squirrels in the Northern 

 Highlands have been diminished more by Lord Lovat's Squirrel 

 Club than by the grey squirrels. Certainly they are very much 

 reduced, but they are not exterminated, for I saw their work last 

 spring as usual though on a much smaller scale. I think where 

 you have an exposed plantation you gain a good deal by 

 planting thickly. I have formerly, in some cases, planted at 

 2| feet apart, but I should not do it now. I would get all the 

 natural regeneration possible, because as things are we shall 

 have to do a lot of patchwork planting, and we shall have to 

 -adopt many devices. What Mr Macdonald has said about larch 

 is specially interesting, because even if you put it in too thin 

 you can always under-plant it later, if you can keep down 

 rabbits and taxation permits you. The other day in an inter- 

 view with the Chancellor of the Exchequer I raised the point 

 that rabbit-killing was a necessary part of both afforestation and 

 agriculture, and that the salaries of men employed in killing 

 rabbits ought to be deducted for income tax purposes. I know 

 very good Scots pine put in at 8 feet in sheltered places which 

 are now excellent plantations. Every case must be judged on 

 its own merits, but the greatest economy in planting is to use 

 2-year plants." 



Mr J. H. Milne Home. — " I should like to say a word or two 

 about some of the points Mr Macdonald mentioned. I agree 

 very heartily with most of what he has said. The point I would 

 refer to particularly is that of delay in replanting. I am sure 

 that there is very much greater loss in that than people 

 realise. It is a very common thing to let land lie for five years. 

 If the valuation on this land be 2S. per acre, that means with 

 rates and taxes say another 3s., a total of 5s. per acre, and if you 

 let it lie for five years that is 25s., without compound interest, 

 added to the cost of planting. Moreover, the cost must then 

 be much heavier because the ground is very rough, and the 

 amount of labour after five years is much greater. Personally, 

 I believe in cleaning up behind the felling as quickly as possible, 

 and my ideal is to get ground replanted within sometimes a few 



