FINANCE AND EMPLOYMENT. 49 



the amount of work done by the crofters themselves on their 

 own buildings. A rough method of arriving at the number of 

 men who would be employed is to calculate how much goes 

 in material and how much in wages on the average crofter 

 dwelling. 



In a ^150 house the material should cost approximately : — 

 Timber, 



That is to say, about half the cost of a ;;^^i5o cottage would 

 go in labour : — 



1. to the crofter erecting the dwelling ; 



2. to the estate workmen ; and 



3. to the men on day's or weekly wages. 



Realisation of Timber. 



In the Fort Augustus Block there are about 7000 acres of 

 natural timber — birch, oak, scrub and Scots pine. Annually in 

 the first decade, the growing stock on about 150 acres would be 

 thinned down to 8 to 12 trees per acre, and would form part of 

 the planting area of 450 acres per annum (z'/de Chapter IX., 

 Working-Plan). 



The treatment of the remainder of the crop ma,y be 

 summar sed under the following heads : — 



1. Heavy thinnings of birch woods scheduled for planting 



at the end of the working-plan period (in order to 

 allow two crops of birch to be taken off certain areas 

 before planting them). 



2. Lighter thinnings of woods due for planting in the 



second and third decades. 



3. A short-rotation "birch-broom" crop (cut when the 



birch is five-eighths of an inch thick at butt). 



4. Special treatment of oak-woods. 



VOL. XXV. D 



