238 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
31. Aberdeen Branch. 
Excursion to Drumtochty, Kincardineshire, 9th June 1906. 
The first excursion of this Branch of the Society took place 
on June gth, 1906, when, by the kind invitation of Sydney J. 
Gammell, Esq. of Drumtochty and Countesswells, the beautiful 
Estate of Drumtochty, Kincardineshire, was visited by a party 
from the associated counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. 
The party travelled to Fordoun by rail, and thence they were 
conveyed in brakes to Drumtochty, where, on arrival, they were 
met by Mr Gammell. 
Led by Mr Gammell and his forester, Mr Mitchell, the party 
were conducted to a larch plantation, stretching along the east 
end of Finella hill. This plantation extends to about 120 acres, 
the lower part being about fourteen, and the upper part from 
seventy to eighty years old. Before entering the plantation, Mr 
Gammell exhibited a plan of his estate, coloured so as to show 
at a glance the portions which had been planted, particularly in 
the last fifteen or twenty years, and indicating the kinds of trees 
which had been used and the age of the plantations. Mr 
Gammell explained that he kept a record of the acreage and 
kinds of trees planted; the cost of plants, planting, and tending ; 
and the progress made at certain stages. The general plan on 
which he proceeded, he explained, was to lay down a two-storied 
high-forest on the upland parts of the estate. At the end of 
twenty-five years the first thinning took place, and at the end of 
the second twenty-five years the wood was very heavily thinned 
and underplanted with Douglas fir, the estimate being that the 
latter would, at the end of fifty years, be as big as the larch at 
eighty or one hundred years. About 50 acres of the lower 
portion of the Finella plantation was planted some fourteen 
years ago with larch, mixed with a sprinkling of Scots pine 
and spruce. This was immediately after the great storm which 
did so much damage to the woods in the east of Scotland. The 
upper part of the wood consists of very fine larch, apparently 
between seventy and eighty years old, but it was the opinion of 
the majority of the party that the timber should now be cut, and 
that little advantage was to be gained by allowing it to remain 
standing much longer, a 
