20 EXPERIMENTS IN PLANTING SAND-HILLS. 



are under wood, and 900 are bare. The latter having, at one time, 

 been very much broken up by the influence of the winds, an idea 

 became prevalent amongst proprietors that the pulling of bent was 

 injurious to its growth, and that considerable damage had been 

 done by pulling it. The consecpience was, that they petitioned 

 Parliament to pass an Act against the pulling of bent. The bent 

 was iised for thatching purposes, and people came from far and 

 near for it. 



An Act of Parliament was passed, and the people were pro- 

 hibited from pulling bent, but the result was very different from 

 what was expected, as it soon became apparent that it was dying 

 out. Many knolls, which before had been covered with luxuriant 

 bent where it had been pulled, became bare from want of pulling, 

 and were broken and carried away by the prevailing winds in 

 spring and autumn. 



To convince myself more fully of this, I chose a small knoll or 

 part of these hills where I found the bent very short — not over 

 8 inches long — and having pulled it, went the following season 

 and found the crop of bent much stronger than that of last year. 



1 pulled it again the second year, and on the following season I 

 found that the crop could scarcely be improved, as it stood about 



2 to 2 1 feet high. Thus I satisfied myself that the more bent was 

 pulled the more certain the crop would stand out. The best time 

 to pull it is about the end of March. 



I have also planted bent with considerable advantage for pre- 

 venting the drifting of the sand ; but as I refer to this afterwards, 

 I shall first remark on the portion of the Culbin Estate now under 

 plantations. 



1. Planted Ground. 



The possibility of successfully planting these benty knolls or 

 margins had been frequently discussed, but to no practical purpose, 

 till the year 1837, when Robert Grant, Esq. of Kincorth, planted 

 with Scotch fir and larch a narrow strip along the margin of his 

 property (Trans. Highland Soc., 3d Ser., iii. 73). 



The planting having proved a success, James Murray Grant, 

 Esq. of Glenmoriston and Moy, commenced to plant in the year 

 1840 with more zeal and confidence, and in 1842 finished about 

 300 acres with Scotch fir and larch. Mr Grigor, nurseryman, 

 Forres, refers particularly to the expense, growth, and value of 

 these plantations up to 1866, in his work on "Arboriculture," 



