74 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



is coarse-grained and poor in quality. Lengthen- 

 ing the rotation to eighty or one hundred years 

 produces a considerable improvement in the 

 timber, but even then Scotch fir grown in Eng- 

 land is not more than equal to average foreign 

 deal, and the price does not compensate for 

 the length of the rotation. 



Planting Scotch fir cannot be recommended. 

 The price is unremunerative ; the tree is very 

 liable to be broken by the snow. On sandy 

 soils there is the grave risk of destruction by 

 fire of the young plantation. The ground is 

 covered with a dry herbage, which is very in- 

 flammable, and a fire in a young Scotch fir 

 plantation is unmanageable. 



If it is decided to plant Scotch fir care should 

 be taken that the seedlings should be grown 

 from seeds collected in Scotland. The English 

 and Continental varieties produce timber dis- 

 tinctly inferior to trees grown in Scotland. 



A self-sown wood of Scotch fir on poor land 

 costs nothing, and therefore is an advantage to 

 the owner of the land, even if the financial 

 returns are slight. It is better than the poor 

 herbage which preceded it. Special circum- 

 stances, such as a good market for pit-props 

 and a cheap haulage, may justify the expense 



