CHAP, cxiii. coni'fer^. pi^nus. 2169 



The history of the indigenous pine forests in Scotland is thus given by Sir 

 T. D. Lauder. Commencing with the Western Highlands, he notices the 

 remains of the Rannoch Forest, on the confines of the great counties of Perth, 

 Inverness, and Argyll, which, he says, has been " unmercifully slaughtered," 

 in consequence of the high price of Baltic timber during the late wars. " The 

 roots that exist, and the occasional single trees and groups which may still be 

 seen here and there, in situations not easily accessible, show that this forest 

 stretched far and wide across the country, meeting with those which now re- 

 main on the Dee, the Spey, the Findhorn, the Ness, and the Beaulcy ; as well 

 as those connected with the Glen-mor-na-albin, or Great Caledonian Glen, 

 and with the Glengarry, Lochiel, Glen Nevis, and more western sylvan dis- 

 tricts. Of these remnants, none were more extensive, or more esteemed for 

 their timber, than the forests of the Spey and the Dee. The Aberncthy fo- 

 rests still continue to furnish a great quantity of very fine timber. In 1730, 

 a branch of the York Building Company purchased 7000/. worth of timber ; 

 and, by their improved mode of working it up, by saw-mills, &c., and their 

 new methods of transportmg it on floats to the sea, they introduced the rapid 

 manufacture and removal of it which afterwards took place throughout the 

 whole of the sylvan districts. About the year 1786, the Duke of Gordon sold 

 his Glenmore Forest to an English company for 10,000/. [It will be perceived, 

 that there is a discrepancy between this account and that of Mr. Grigor, 

 p. 2161., which, however, is of no great consequence] This was supposed 

 to be the finest fir wood in Scotland. Numerous trading vessels, some of 

 them of above 500 tons burthen, were built from the timber of this forest ; and 

 one frigate, which was called the Glenmore. Many of the trees felled mea- 

 sured 18 ft. and 20 ft. in girt; and there is still preserved at Gordon Castle 

 a plank nearly G ft. in breadth, which was presented to the duke by the com- 

 pany. But the Rothiemurchus Forest was the most extensive of any in that 

 part of the country: it contained above 16 square miles. Alas! we must 

 now, indeed, say that it was ; for the high price of timber hastened its de- 

 struction. It went on for many years, however, to make large returns to the 

 proprietor, the profits being sometimes above 20,000/. in one year. The 

 Forests of Glenmore and Rothiemurchus, though belonging to different es- 

 tates, were so united as to form, in reality, one continuous forest ; and they 

 are now equally denuded of all their finest timber. Tiie Braemar and In- 

 vercauld Forests, on the Dee, are as yet most entire. They are very exten- 

 sive, and some very magnificent pines are to be found among them j but the 

 destructive axe has been let loose on that of Mar ; and we fear that nothing 

 but a reduction in tiie price of timber will save it from the ruin which has 

 befallen those we have mentioned. It is curious to observe, in the Rothie- 

 murchus Forest, and in all the others, how the work of renovation goes on. 

 The young seedlings come up as thick as they do in the nurseryman's seed- 

 beds ; and in the same relative degree of thickness do they continue to grow, 

 till they are old enough to be cut down. The competition which takes place 

 between the adjacent individual plants, creates a rivalry that increases their 

 upward growth ; whilst the exclusion of the air prevents the formation of 

 lateral branches, or destroys them soon after they are formed. Thus, Nature 

 produces by far the most valuable timber; for it is tall, straight, of uniform 

 diameter throughout its whole length, and free from knots : all which qualities 

 combine to render it fit for spars, which fetch double or triple the sum per 

 foot that the other trees do. The large and spreading trees are on the out- 

 skirts of the masses, and straggle here and there in groups or single trees." 

 {Lauder's Gilji., vol. i. p. 177.) These last are the trees which are described 

 by tourists, and drawn by artists, as the Highland pine. (See fig. 2052. 

 in p. 2164.) 



The pine forests on the Continent, and especially in the north of Europe, 

 have suffered like those of the Highlands of Scotland, and from the same 

 causes ; but, on the Continent, the work of reproduction goes on with rapidity, 

 while this is the case in only a few of the Highland forests. The reason is, that 



