203 



No. LXX. 



Fir Plantation, Ross- shire. 



This plantation, consisting wholly of Scotch firs, is 

 for the most part in a very thriving state, consider- 

 ing the little attention that has been all along paid 

 to it ; this can only be accounted for from the excel- 

 lency of the soil for rearing wood. I may here ob- 

 serve, that the whole within the boundaries of this 

 plantation, is capable of rearing to maturity almost 

 every kind of timber trees. Had it been planted 

 with oak in place of Scotch firs, it would by this time 

 have been paying the estate at the rate of L.7, 10s. 

 per acre of annual rent. And I am perfectly aware, 

 that to convert it still into an oak wood, — say to 

 cut every twenty-four years as a coppice, it will 

 pay better. This could easily be done, by disposing 

 of and cutting down the firs, which could be dispos- 

 ed of as prop-wood, &c. If such a plan was to be 

 adopted, I would recommend that a belt of the firs 

 round the outside be left, — say not less than one 

 hundred feet wide. This would still keep up the 

 look of it as a plantation, and cover the naked look 

 of that part of the estate, as well as afford shelter to 

 the interior of the coppice, as every inch of the 

 ground, besides some more waste land that could 

 with propriety and advantage be added, will carry 

 natural oak wood as coppice, if I may be allowed 

 the term, to perfection. Nothing will ever pay the 

 estate better, and that too, producing a regular an- 

 nual rental for all time coming, without any ex- 

 pense but the first planting with oak, the expense of 

 which, the present crop would do much more than 



