PLANTATIONS. 63 



It is at present, almost universally, a Scotch, 

 Fir Plantation: these are of a most miserable 

 size, compared with what they might have been, 

 under good management, and they are withal very 

 coarse. There may be seen amongst them, just 

 Larches enough to perpetuate the folly of the 

 original planter; and to excite, at his periodical 

 sales, the keen regret of the present Steward, that 

 he has not more of them to sell. There are also 

 a few oaks, of such quality as fully to prove that 

 they would have thriven well had they been 

 planted. Further: the Scotch firs are so thick, 

 and they are feathered down so low, that the 

 Plantation is not healthy. It is true that, under 

 the present much improved management, an at- 

 tempt is being made to remedy this evil, and it is 

 quite clear, that the condition of the trees will 

 gradually be bettered, but the misfortune is and 

 here I come to speak of the prospects of the 

 Plantation that they are not worth culture. I 

 have no hesitation in stating this to be my deli- 

 berate opinion. The timber, if timber it can be 

 called, is worth almost nothing now, and, in such 

 a locality, I can see no probability of its ever 



