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274 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
(especially as small stuff for pit-wood), and are, on the whole, 
more profitable than the hardwoods or softwoods grown on 
poorer classes of land. Indeed, conifers are often the only 
kinds of trees that could thrive on much of our poor land, 
and they are the kind of wood we are most in want of, as 
nearly nine-tenths of our timber-imports are of this description. 
So far as regards the chief kinds of coniferous trees likely to 
prove profitable, one can merely generalise by saying that on 
dry, sandy land, Scots pine; on better, well-drained, loamier 
land, Weymouth pine, Douglas fir, and silver fir; on moister 
land, spruce; and on decidedly limy soil, Weymouth pine and 
Austrian pine will often likely be most suitable for forming the 
main crop; that timber-crops are usually best when formed of 
mixtures of different trees grown in patches; that a sprinkling of 
larch generally proves profitable on all land having good natural 
drainage; and that on the better classes of soil an admixture of 
hardwoods and softwoods is often also desirable. On suitable 
soil and situation, the largest and often by far the most profitable 
crops are produced by Weymouth pine, Douglas fir, larch, white 
willow, and black poplars. 
The bulk of the waste lands suitable for planting consists of 
poor, deteriorated, rough mountain pasture and moorland peat- 
bogs, and the former are usually the more favourable for 
operations. Except to the comparatively small extent to which 
the peat-bogs have been cut away, there is not (even with 
previous drainage) much chance of planting with profit on land 
of this class; because, even with expensive drainage and ditching 
deep enough to break through the stiff layer of clay or the thin 
impervious moorpan, upon the presence of which the swampy 
moorland condition depends, timber-crops (even of Scots pine) 
do not thrive unless their roots can soon get into direct contact 
with the mineral soil. Hence this class of land, usually far 
from any favourable market for thinnings and mature timber, is 
not that deserving the first attention. Land overgrown with 
furze or broom should produce good timber-crops of mixed 
conifers, for it is usually loamy and naturally well-drained. 
Bracken-covered wastes are poorer in quality, while heather- 
grown land is often either very dry or very moist, and is generally 
so poor and deteriorated as to be better suited for pine than for 
more exacting kinds of trees. 
The better class of waste land is covered with furze or broom, 
