OUR LOST FORESTS. 11 



CHAPTER II. 



OUR LOST FORESTS. 



SCOTLAND was originally the site of several very ex- 

 tensive forests, and undoubtedly there were many others 

 of smaller area, all branching out towards the seaboard 

 along the glens and river-courses. The principal tree of 

 the Lowland forests was oak, with groves or odd trees of 

 elm, ash, and aspen in suitable situations; a fair amount 

 of birch on banks and higher ground ; and alder, with 

 saugh or willow bushes, on marshy land beside lochs or 

 rivers. An undergrowth of gean, bird -cherry, rowan, 

 hazel, holly, yew, sloes, thorns, and briers was more or less 

 prevalent throughout the forests, with patches of broom 

 and whins in openings and on hard knolls. The remnants 

 of this bygone forest are still in evidence in Cadzow Park, 

 near Hamilton. Patches of this type of forest, if it had 

 existed, would also be found all over the mainland, but 

 in the Highlands and southern uplands the extensive 

 primeval forests were composed chiefly of Scots pine, 

 and reached in some localities to an altitude of over one 

 thousand five hundred feet. Along with the pine much 

 alder would be found in moist places, and birch and rowan 

 in openings, the birch encroaching on the pine at every 

 opportunity. Among the birch there would be an under- 

 growth somewhat similar to that found in the Lowland 

 forests, but rather less varied in composition ; while amon^ 

 the pines there would be a more or less abundant crop 

 of juniper -bushes. A few remaining fragments of these 

 great pine forests are still to be seen in the Spey Valley, 

 on Deeside, at Achnacarry, and at the head of Glen Orchy, 

 where the West Highland Railway passes through it. It 

 is more than probable that the pine forests never reached 

 the western seaboard of the Highlands except at the heads 



