72 TRAXSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



lo. The Annual Excursion. 



By George Levex. With Note by Alexander Finlayson. 



The annual excursion of the Society took place this year, 

 as last year, at the end of June. The Border district had been 

 decided on, and Kelso and Hawick were suitable centres from 

 which to visit the several places selected by the Committee. 



The members, numbering about seventy, reached Kelso on 

 Monday evening, 26th June, and were accommodated in hotels 

 there. The party drove next morning, the 27th, to Bowmont 

 forest, the property of the Duke of Roxburghe, where they 

 inspected a mature crop of Scots pine in the Gowdens plantation, 

 which stands about 500 feet above sea-level. This plantation, 

 including North and South Gowdens, extends to about 50 acres, 

 and was probably planted between 181 6 and 182 i, when almost 

 2,000,000 trees were planted out on 546 acres of the Roxburghe 

 estates. In the north division, where the soil is a thin sandy 

 loam over pan, the stems now average 147 per acre, and 

 measure 20 cubic feet each, which gives a crop of 2940 cubic 

 feet per acre. In the south division, on a deep sandy loam, the 

 stems average 170 per acre, and 25 cubic feet each, making 

 4250 cubic feet per acre. 



The drive was continued to Bowmont forest sawmill, where 

 the forest tramway was walked over and examined. It is an 

 ordinary " light railway " of 24-inch gauge, with flat-bottom steel 

 rails, weighing 14 lbs. per yard, in 15 feet sections, with fish- 

 plates, bolts, nuts and corrugated steel sleepers, 3^ inches wide 

 by ^ inch thick, placed 3 feet apart. The material costs about 

 2S. gd. per yard at the nearest railway station, and to this has to 

 be added, say, 2 sets points at ;^3 per set, and 3 sets (2 in each 

 set) bogies, at about ;^ii per set. As it was decided to clear- 

 fell a large area in the vicinity of the sawmill, this tramway was 

 laid down five years ago, as an alternative to making roads 

 where suitable material for them is scarce. The laying down of 

 the tramway is a very simple matter, as little grading is required 

 at the farther end when it is being lifted and moved about. 

 Towards the home end, where it is more of a permanent nature, 

 special attention has been paid to laying it down, and additional 

 (wooden) sleepers have been put in where the ground proved 

 soft. Including branches into the woodyard and to the 



