14 AFFORESTATION IN SCOTLAND. 



regarded as too valuable for afforestation ; and there are also 

 great stretches of high hill sheep farms which, in view of the 

 more suitable subjects obtainable elsewhere, are too bleak and 

 exposed to be worth experimenting upon. 



There are, however, throughout the length and breadth of 

 Scotland, tracts of what might be called " average sheep land," 

 rented at from gd. to 2s. per acre, which could be planted with 

 advantage on a method exactly the same as that advised for 

 deer forests, viz., one-third of the wintering to be afforested, and 

 no further ground to be taken from the farm until after the ewe 

 stock had been allowed to winter once again in the planted area. 



.Sufficient data are available to establish the value of the 

 grazing in woods, especially larch woods. On three of the large 

 estates in Glen Mor sheep are allowed into the opener woods; 

 and in the great plantations of Lady .Seafield, in the high Gran- 

 town district, sheep are regularly allowed access to all woods 

 after the trees have reached seventeen or eighteen years of age. 



Dr Nisbet, in his standard work on British Forestry, quotes 

 land under larch, on the Castlerigg estate, Northumberland, let 

 <at the rate of 5s. per acre per annum for grazing : and Lochiel 

 habitually winters weak ewes in his larch woods at Achnacarry 

 with satisfactory results. While the writers wish to point out 

 that there is a considerable value in the winter grazing of larch 

 woods, especially in the northern districts of Scotland, where 

 shelter constitutes such an important factor in the care of stock, 

 they do not argue for a moment either that, by planting coni- 

 fers, moderate sheep ground in Glen Mor will be raised to 

 the value of the good sheep ground of Northumberland, or that, 

 after taking away a third of the wintering, the value of the 

 subjects will ever exceed two-thirds of their original value. 



The preceding considerations make it clear that the Forest 

 Authority should approach the sheep-farming problems with 

 caution, and should be aided by the best expert advice. Taking 

 over sheep stock at a valuation is a costly proceeding, and an 

 ''acclimatised stock," once abolished, can only be replaced after 

 many years of labour and at no inconsiderable expense. Sheep 

 farms in many districts ])ay a considerable portion of the rates, 

 provide an appreciable percentage of the local employment, and 

 afford a means of extracting a return, even if it be a small one, 

 from otherwise wholly barren hill ground. It is to the economic 

 interest of the country generally that such a well-established 



