2 14 transactions of royal scottish arboricultural society. 



The Novar Nurseries. 



The party then visited the nurseries, which are from 8 to 

 9 acres in extent. Here they saw a vast array of all kinds 

 of plants in various stages of development. The nurseries were 

 in excellent condition, and were kept remarkably clean. Plants 

 of all descriptions and of all ages were in the healthiest condition. 

 Seed-beds planted in the shade of the apple-trees in the garden 

 were also visited, but there seemed to be no difference in their 

 growth from the beds in the nurseries. The curiosities in the 

 museum having been inspected, the visitors had a walk through 

 the experimental plots in the Dalzheal. Here have been carried 

 on experiments in planting certain crops, some pure and others 

 mixed, by notching and by pitting. There seemed to be not much 

 difference between the results of the notching and the pitting, 

 as all the plots appeared to be in a flourishing condition. The 

 notching, however, is done at half the cost of pitting, while 

 dibbling, again, is done at half the cost of notching. The Cross- 

 hills was the last of the plantations visited. The crop was 

 composed of larch and spruce, the age of the larch being 

 21 years and the older spruce i6 years. Part of the larch 

 crop was thinned and underplanted in 1899 with spruce, silver 

 fir, and Sitka spruce. The remainder was thinned in 1903, 

 and underplanted with Hemlock spruce, Thuja gigantea and 

 Douglas fir. Here, as in Assynt Hill, larch disease was at 

 one time very prevalent. The plantation is now an excellent 

 orie all round, and, as regards underplanting and the combating 

 of the larch disease, the best results have been obtained in 

 this section. The Sitkas, which were planted some nine years 

 ago, ranged from 10 to 16 feet in height, but the Hemlocks made 

 the best show. They were planted five years ago, made rapid 

 headway, till now their height is from 6 to 8 feet. The objection 

 to this underplanting that many put forth — and it was the only 

 one — was the difficulty that would be experienced in thinning 

 and hauling out the trees without doing extensive damage. 

 The chief difificulty, it was contended, would be in hauling the 

 trees out from the centre of the plantation. There is not much in 

 this objection. The plantations are intersected by "rides," and 

 the distance from the centre of a plot to a " ride " is not great. 



An instructive and enjoyable day terminated with a visit to 

 the creosoting plant. The visitors were entertained to luncheon 

 by Mr, Mrs and Miss Meiklejohn at the Dalzheal. 



