ARBORICULTURE IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 235 



XXV. — On the Present State and Prospects of Arboriculture 

 in Aberdeenshire. By William Gilchrist, Forester, Cluny 

 Castle. 



Aberdeenshire is allowed to be one of the best wooded counties in 

 the north of Scotland, and in some parts the work connected with 

 the management and rearing of plantations, and the manufacture of 

 wood, have been the chief industries of the people. The extent of 

 ground under wood has been ascertained by detailed statements to 

 be about 115,000 acres. The Board of Trade Eeturns for 1872 

 give it at 93,680 acres, but these returns may well be doubted, as, 

 where so many parties are interested, it is almost impossible to pro- 

 cure accurate information. 



West Aberdeenshire — or the district drained by the Dee and the 

 Don, with their tributaries, is the principal wood-growing portion 

 of the county. An old couplet says : — 



" The Dee for fish and tree ; 

 And the Don for corn and stone." 



But at present, taking into consideration the amount of ground 

 suitable for, or what could be most profitably used for the growth 

 of trees, the basin of the Don, at least, the upper part of it, is fully 

 equal to that of the Dee. The part of the basin of the Deveron in 

 Aberdeenshire is also well wooded, the famous Binnhill (2600 

 acres), said to be the largest plantation within one ring in the 

 county, being on the north bank. 



Towards the end of last century the planting of wood on waste 

 land was prosecuted vigorously, and had it been continued the in- 

 come of some estates, where large tracts of suitable land still exist, 

 would now have been considerably increased. The impetus, from 

 some cause, did not continue long ; but it was revived about thirty 

 years ago, and at present the more extensive planting of the waste 

 land is a practical problem to be solved before any great extent of 

 it can be improved and kept in cultivation. 



The introduction of water-power sawmills, and of portable engines 

 with saw machinery, has developed the wood trade of the country 

 considerably, and increased the sums obtained for rough wood. 

 The high prices which for sometime have been realised from the 

 sale of timber has forced proprietors to appreciate it a? an important 

 item in the income of an estate, so that much more waste land has 



