10 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
of the plantation) were carefully measured, and the trees, 
exclusive of a number of smaller sized and suppressed trees, 
were counted; they were found to contain 365 and 380 trees 
respectively, thus giving an average of 372 trees per acre. At 84 
cubic feet per tree, this gives 3162 cubic feet per acre; and taking 
this quantity at the very moderate estimate of 6d. per cubic 
foot, the present value would be £79 per acre, giving a gross 
return of £1, 178s. rod. per acre per annum for the forty-two 
years. The price of the thinnings in 1891, together with 
many more which have been taken out since then for estate 
purposes, would much more than cover the expense of planting 
and tending to this date. In order to test the accuracy of my 
valuation, I got one of the leading timber merchants in the 
locality to make a careful examination of the wood (with which 
he expressed himself as well pleased), and on comparing his 
valuation (which he stated he would willingly pay should the crop 
be put on the market) with my own, his was found to be slightly 
higher. ‘This is by no means the proper time, however, to value 
a young thriving plantation such as this “is, and the figures are 
given here merely in order to show what the possibilities of a larch 
plantation grown on very poor heath mountain-land are. Until 
a few years ago, growth in height had been stimulated at the 
expense of growth in girth; but now that the trees have got 
more growing-space, growth in girth will be more rapid, and 
as they increase in size an annual ring of normal width will 
add considerably more to the cubic contents than formerly. 
To point out that the cultivation of woods, even though only 
of pit-wood size, can be made a means of augmenting the 
income derivable from semi-waste land has been my endeavour 
here. I trust that the foregoing data will sufficiently de- 
monstrate that this can be done, and that all those interested 
in the matter may give the formation and management of 
such plantations an impartial trial. For pit-wood alone, the 
supply of which is mostly got from abroad, there is an 
ever-increasing and steady market, amounting at present to 
something like £6,000,000 per annum. With close planting of 
suitable species, the after-management of the crop being con- 
ducted with a view to early realisation, a great deal of this sum 
could be kept at home. In the management of plantations, 
however, the aim should be to produce timber which will best 
suit the requirements of the local markets, and the system should 
