TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
1. The Planting of High Moorlands.! 
By Sir JOHN STIRLING-MAXWELL, Bart. of Pollok. 
Two conditions appear essential to the creation of new forests 
in the Highlands, one a rise in the price of timber, and the 
other some measure of assistance from the State, certainly in 
the way of instruction and experiment, and possibly also in the 
way of loans. Since there are at last signs of both these 
conditions being fulfilled, and since, moreover, the fall in the 
value of sheep farms and irregular demands for deer forests 
afford a new opportunity, the subject of hill-planting certainly 
deserves all, and more than all, the consideration it is receiving. 
It is admitted by everyone that plantations will not pay 
unless they are made on a considerable scale, and managed in the 
most economical and scientific manner. The object of this paper 
is to illustrate how much remains to be learnt in one important 
branch of forestry, namely, the planting of high moorlands. 
In such situations the fact that the land is at present almost 
valueless will compensate for some increase in the cost of 
planting and the slow growth of the first crop. In sheep farms 
and deer forests, for example, it would be fatal to both farming 
and sport to plant the best grazing ground, but there are 
usually in such farms and forests extensive tracts which have 
little value for sheep, deer or grouse, where the shelter of large 
plantations would more than compensate for any loss of grazing. 
My experiments in this line (if I may dignify them by this 
name) have been carried on since 1892 on moorlands in the 
upper basin of the river Spean, varying in altitude from 1250 to 
1500 feet. The tract of which they form part is used as a deer 
1 Paper read at Society’s Forestry Exhibition in connection with Highland 
and Agricultural Society’s Show at Peebles, 19th July 1906. 
VOL. XX. PART I. A 
