372 A V/alk from 



to keep them from falling down the precipice. It is 

 stated that he had twenty-seven millions of the larch 

 alone planted on his mountainous estates, besides seve- 

 ral millions of other trees. Now, it is doubtful if the 

 whole region thus dibbled with this tree-crop yielded 

 an average rental of one English shilling per acre as a 

 pasturage for sheep. On passing through miles and 

 miles of this magnificent wood-grain and taking an 

 estimate of its value, I put it at 10s., or $2 40c. per tree. 

 Of the twenty-seven millions of larches thus planted, 

 ten must be worth that sum ; making alone, without 

 counting the rest, 5,000,000, or $24,000,000. It is 

 quite probable that the larches, firs and other trees now 

 covering the Atholl estates would sell for 10,000,000 

 if brought to the hammer. But he was not only the 

 greatest arboriculturist in the world, but the founder of 

 tree-farming as a productive industry as well as a deco- 

 rative art. Already it has transformed the Highlands 

 of Scotland and trebled their value as well as clothed 

 them with a new and beautiful scenery. What we call 

 the Scotch larch was not originally a native of that 

 country. Close to the cathedral in Dunkeld stand the 

 two patriarchs of the family first introduced into Scot- 

 land from Switzerland in 1737. 



Having remained the best part of two days in Dun- 

 keld, I held on northward through heavily-shaded and 



