DETAILED SURVEY OK THE FORT AUGUSTUS BLOCK. 1 9 



not be assumed that similar results would be obtained from 

 woods growing under a regular rotation, with gradations of ages ; 

 the woods mentioned are all over forty-five years of age, and 

 are for the most pait of an open character. 



The under-planting question is a more important one. In 

 this particular district, where the wintering of sheep and deer 

 is a primary consideration, the possibility of under-planting larch 

 must be abandoned from the first. It must be pointed out, 

 on the other hand, that at Glen Urquhart, Invermoristoii, 

 Invergarry and Achnacarry, larch woods are grown without 

 under-planting, without disease, and, in the case of Achnacarry 

 and Aldourie, carrying a crop sixty years of age, which, after 

 a heavy thinning, is worth over ,-^150 an acre. 



SHOOTINGS: MOOR AND LOW GROUND. 



The extent to which moor and low ground shootings will be 

 affected by afforestation must be considered ; for the sporting 

 value, and therefore the rent, will be modified by the new 

 conditions. In the case of sheep farms there is usually a 

 separate shooting rent, while the shootings are included in the 

 rent of the deer forest. 



I. Grouse. — It is not probable that afforestation will reduce 

 the letting value of grouse shootings to any great extent, for the 

 following reasons : — 



(r) The best grouse moors, which, in other districts, may be 

 rented up to 5s. an acre, are too valuable to plant. 



(2) As a rule good grouse ground is not good for planting, and 



therefore, in the case of the less excellent grouse moors 

 and shootings, which are partly deer forest and partly 

 grouse moor, the part of the shooting which produces 

 most grouse would remain unplanted. 



(3) The ground most suitable for planting, at present often 



covered with bracken and birch trees, is of very little 

 value as breeding ground for grouse. 



In the cases, which the writers believe would be rare, in which 

 good grouse ground would be taken for planting purposes, 

 compensation for loss of rental would obviously have to be given. 



It is sometimes argued that large woods have an adverse 

 effect upon the adjoining grouse moors. This is true only in 



