l6o TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I may cite the figures of a plantation of Douglas fir and Thuya 

 plicata at Gairletter, near Dunoon, on the Clyde. This yielded, 

 thirty-five years after the date of planting, 7430 cubic feet 

 (quarter-girth measurement) of timber per acre, or more than 

 200 cubic feet per annum. The timber was sold in Glasgow for 

 scaffold poles and other similar uses, the net proceeds being 

 ^^130 per acre. Allowing for the expenses of planting, taxes, 

 maintenance, and all the other charges actually incurred, and 

 reckoning compound interest at 3 per cent., this plantation 

 yielded ^2 per acre per annum net revenue. ^ The land, while 

 well situated near a market, was rough and rocky and of no 

 value for tillage. 



Of the other conifers of the Pacific Coast region, the most 

 important are Lawson cypress, Nutka cypress, Cupressus 

 macrocarpa, and Pinus insignis {P. radiatd). Pinus ifisigms, if 

 planted in suitable localities near the sea, in the western parts of 

 England, Wales and Ireland, would produce a large volume of 

 coarse timber in a short term of years. It will, however, 

 probably prove more useful for shelter-belts near the sea. It 

 has been planted with great success for the purpose by Mr 

 Dorrien Smith on Tresco, one of the Scilly Isles, where the 

 violence and constancy of the wind are extreme. 



The Lawson cypress, a native of south-western Oregon, is 

 remarkable for its freedom from injury by frost, insects or fungi; 

 moreover, it bears wind well. It is very cheaply raised from 

 seed, and is easily transplanted. It is not, however, so fast in 

 growth as the species mentioned above, and there are no records 

 of its volume as a forest tree in dense plantations. It would 

 certainly yield valuable timber if planted closely at the start. 

 It thrives on peat at Abbeyleix and other places in Ireland, and 

 might prove admirable for planting in bogs either pure or 

 introduced by groups into areas which have already been 

 covered by seedlings of maritime pine. 



The Nutka cypress, coming from a more northern region, 

 Alaska and British Columbia, is still slower in growth ; but 

 possibly more vigorous trees might be raised by getting seeds 

 from its most southerly stations in Vancouver Island, and these 

 would be invaluable for shelter in wind-swept regions in the north 

 of Ireland. This tree might also be propagated by cuttings for 

 hedges around gardens in exposed parts of Donegal, Mayo, etc. 

 1 See Trans. Roy. Scot. Arbor. Soc, xxviii. p. 175 (1914). 



