102 THE DEV^ELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



Sitka fir, Thuia, etc., and also to such European trees as 

 are indigenous to a high altitude or latitude, where the 

 summers are cool and moist. Hence is it that Ireland, 

 Wales, the lake districts of England, and the West High- 

 lands of Scotland furnish numerous examples of rapid 

 and luxuriant growth so far as these species are concerned. 

 The success of trees of this class is well demonstrated on 

 such estates as Inverary and Benmore in Argyllshire, 

 Achnacarry in Inverness-shire, and Castle Kennedy in 

 Wigtownshire. On these estates good sites and sheltered 

 situations provide some of the finest examples of tree 

 growth in Scotland, yet in no place are trees of any size 

 to be found above 700 or 800 feet above sea-level, where 

 wind and general climate again assert their influence. 

 Instances like these have probably assisted in forming the 

 theory that the British climate is all that could be desired 

 for most species of trees, independently of soil and situation. 

 But take the other side of the picture, which, in these 

 cases, means the other side of the hill or the other end of 

 the valley, as the case may be, and what is ibund ? 

 Examine any wood, clump, belt, or single tree on a 

 western or southern slope within 50 or even 100 miles of 

 the western coast-line of Great Britain, and one invariably 

 finds that the luxuriant growth of the eastern slopes and 

 sheltered valleys is here replaced by a dwarfed, stunted, 

 and leaning habit of growth, which increases with the 

 elevation, poverty of the soil, and suscej^tibility of the 

 species to wind and exposure. Growing in thick masses 

 may here as elsewhere tend to minimise the effect of wind 

 and lack of summer heat, but only to a limited extent, 

 and it is erroneous to assume that the storm-swept and 

 wind- tortured growth, which is so characteristic of trees 

 on exposed sites near the sea, is entirely eliminated in 

 large plantations, although it is undoubtedly decreased. 

 No precise data have yet been collected on the com- 



