Ill 



diameter, when cut over at the roots ; by this me- 

 thod, the most bare, rocky, and exposed situations 

 may at once be planted. Where there is depth of 

 soil and shelter, the whole tree may be removed ; 

 but this is plain to every one. In spring 1825, I 

 covered upwards of a fourth of an Irish acre, of as 

 bare rock as any here, with roots of oak, ash, Spanish 

 chesnut, plane, elm, and some willows, and not one of 

 them but grew, and from many of them are trees now 

 ten feet high ; this was done to cover up the view of 

 the bare rock from the mansion, and it served the 

 purpose instantly and most effectually. There is no 

 coppice cutting on the estate of Balgone, I believe ; 

 but for the purpose of covering any particular spot, 

 the oak, ash, or even other trees that are to be taken 

 out of South Meadow, may be used so far as 

 they will go, or from any other young plantation, 

 when such can be taken out with plenty of earth, 

 without injury to the rest of the trees. I have been 

 the more particular with this plantation, as it will 

 serve all others of a similar kind, and on any of the 

 other estates or places. 



Plantation to be made in a Valley, Balgone. 



Nothing, in my opinion, would add more to the 

 sublime grandeur of the already indescribable roman- 

 tic scenery to be seen in this vale, (where the im- 

 mensely high, wild, perpendicular rocks would al- 

 most make a stranger believe he had been in a trance, 

 at once carried from the fertile lands of Haddington 

 to the wilds of Argyle or Inverness-shire,) than 

 planting the whole ridge of these rocks, and a pri- 



