192 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



however, one great advantage over all other sorts, namely, the 

 entire absence of competition from abroad. The Siberian 

 larch timber, which has lately been shipped to our ports in 

 considerable quantities, is very poor material indeed when com- 

 pared with the well-grown home product, and, so far as quality 

 of timber is concerned, the two species {Lart'x europcea and 

 L. siberica) differ widely. Our own larch will no doubt, therefore, 

 continue to command a fair price at all times if the market 

 is not glutted by over-production ; but in any great national 

 scheme there should be less striving after the growing of larch 

 crops in (often) unsuitable lands than has been the custom 

 in the past. The great temptation to grow larch lies in the 

 fact that early returns are obtained, but the reasons which 

 prompt the private owner to grow it wherever he can should 

 apply with less force where the State is the owner. 



On the other hand, it is quite true that in the past Scots 

 pine timber has been as difficult, as larch has been easy, to sell. 

 But the reasons for this are not far to seek. Firstly, our Scots 

 pine timber (and the same applies to spruce) is not properly 

 grown. It is often immature, openly grown, and generally 

 of very poor quality. Secondly, it is not produced in 

 sufficient quantity, nor with sufficient regularity, to create or 

 to keep a market. If the timber merchant cannot obtain a 

 regular supply, he cannot of course satisfy his customers, and 

 the result is that both the merchant and the ultimate purchaser 

 probably go elsewhere. 



The supply of larch has been steadier and it has always been 

 sufficient. With a regular supply of well-grown mature first- 

 class pine timber the case would be different, and the prices of 

 well-grown pine timber and larch would no doubt approach each 

 other much more closely than at present. A rotation much under 

 ninety years would probably not be suitable for Scots pine, as 

 quality increment as well as quantity increment would have to be 

 taken into account in fixing a rotation for the production of 

 timber of this description, and probably a sufficient development 

 of heart-wood could not be obtained much sooner. 



Spruce does not i)roduce timber so freely with us as on 

 the Continent, but in certain moist localities both the common 

 and I he Sitka spruce, if grown in sufficiently dense masses, will 

 produce a good useful quality of timber, and a great deal more 

 of it than could be obtained from either larch or Scots pine. 



