334 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
convert the rent charge into a bond and disposition in 
security over the property, but the expense of convert- 
ing the loan cannot be included in the bond. 
Private Proprietors.—Private proprietors are, of course, un- 
fettered as to their expenditure on their woods, and their methods 
of carrying it out. 
Every Landlord, so \ong as he has not less than a liferent 
interest in the land, may borrow money for planting, and charge 
the sum on the estate, either by applying to the Board of 
Agriculture or to one of the Improvement Companies, the only 
one in Scotland being The Scottish Drainage and Improvement 
Company. At first only planting for shelter was considered a 
proper outlay for such a charge, but now the power of borrowing 
has been extended to cover the expense of all planting approved 
of by the Board. Originally, also, the repayment extended over 
twenty-five years, but now the Board of Agriculture has power 
to extend the time to forty years. According to Major Craigie 
the rate of interest is about 3? per cent., which over the forty 
years period would amount to a charge of £4, 17S. per cent., 
and over a twenty years period to a charge of something like 
47 per cent. The charges of the Scottish Company are as 
follows :—For twenty-five years, £5, 19s. 1d. per cent. per 
annum, payable half-yearly, for advances of £300 and upwards, 
and £6, 14s. for advances under £300; for a forty years period, 
44, 11s. 6d. per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly, for £ 300 
and upwards, and £5, 8s. 3d. under £300. These rent charges 
take priority to all other charges except feu-duties and such 
like, on the principle that the improvements effected on the 
property by the expenditure of the money add to the security 
of other creditors.} 
HERITABLE CREDITORS. 
Sometimes, but not often, questions arise between a proprietor 
and a heritable creditor as to the cutting of woods on the estates 
over which the heritable creditor holds a security. Such a case 
1 Operations under this system have been almost wholly confined to 
agricultural improvements. Major Craigie says, ‘‘The amount of money 
borrowed for planting is excessively minute. The total sum spent on planting 
from the beginning of the system, more than fifty years ago, does not yet 
reach £100,000.” 
