ARBORICULTURE IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 245 



well considering the situation. The Scots fir are coarse hut useful, 

 and the larch are "carroty shaped," hut of fine quality, and when 

 used for fencing purposes last for a very long period. Throughout 

 the Formartine and Buchan districts the woodlands occupy a small 

 area compared with the extent of the district, with the exception of 

 Meldrum and Haddo House, the principal plantations heing in the 

 immediate vicinities of the mansion-houses and policies, and are 

 cultivated more with a view to ornamental effect than for profit. 

 The plantations at Meldrurn and Haddo House are the most exten- 

 sive in the district, and manufacturing sawmills are kept up at both 

 places. Larch and Scots fir are the principal varieties, but oak, 

 birch, and hazel copse grow freely in some of the glens. A number 

 of young woods have been formed recently ; the most prominent of 

 these being the hills of Barra, Bourtrie, and Thornton, the former 

 was planted by contract at 13s. per acre. Thorn and beech hedges 

 grow freely. The district is highly agricultural, and in a country 

 where there is so much land suited for growing trees (where a crop 

 of wood is the only profitable crop it will produce), it would not be 

 advisable to occupy much of the arable land with wood. Still, even 

 in this district a good deal of wood could be grown with advantage, 

 and there is no doubt that in future a fair proportion of wood 

 will be planted to provide shelter for the agricultural crops and 

 cattle. Some of the waste lands might also be planted with advan- 

 tage, and if the Foveran sands or such places could be covered with 

 wood a great advantage would have been gained. It is probable 

 that a fair trial of this experiment will be made at no distant 

 date. 



Hedges form a prominent arboricultural feature, and in districts 

 such as Buchan, Formartine, and Garioch, where trees are not exten- 

 sively grown, live fences might be more extensively introduced, espe- 

 cially where stones for building dykes are scarce. 



Such is a brief outline of the present state of arboriculture in 

 Aberdeenshire. The extent under wood is 115,000 acres, the 

 greater portion being in the western division. Scots fir and larch 

 are the principal trees grown for profit. The hardwoods are chiefly 

 found within the parks and policies as specimen trees in belts or 

 small clumps. There are scarcely any hardwood plantations, or 

 even mixed plantations with hardwood, as the principal crop far 

 removed from the mansion-house or policies, some woods of natural 

 birch being the only exceptions. 



An exact classification has not been arrived at, but the following 



