PLANTING OF WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 115 



found. This total absence of pine seedlings is due to the 

 abundance of red deer, which are even more destructive 

 than sheep to young trees. It is probable that deer have 

 contributed to the lowering of the timber-line in Scotland, 



In determining the height to which plantations may be 

 carried, the altitude, exposure to wind, and soil must all be 

 taken into consideration. Where there are great masses of 

 high mountains, the timber-line is raised a great deal, and 

 trees may be successfully planted up to high elevations. 

 This is well seen in the Highlands of Central Scotland, 

 where several peaks exceed 4000 feet. In Rothiemurchus 

 Forest, in Strathspey, which lies in a basin enclosed and 

 protected from wind by the Cairngorm Mountains, native 

 Scots pine creeps up the hills to a height of 2000 feet. 

 On the Ardverikie estate in Inverness-shire there are planta- 

 tions of Scots pine and larch, on the hills beside Loch 

 Earba, doing well between 1500 and 1700 feet. The 

 highest wood in England occurs in the Pennine range. 

 This is a plantation of 300 acres, at Ashgill, lying to the 

 north-east of Cross Fell, the highest peak of the Pennines 

 (2930 feet), by which it is sheltered from the prevailing 

 wind. The elevation of the plantation varies from 1250 

 feet along the bed of the South Tyne to 2000 feet, the 

 highest point of a shelter belt that was planted in advance 

 of the main crop. The greater part lies between 1500 and 

 1800 feet, sloping gradually towards the north-west. The 

 soil is glacial clay resting on limestone, the surface being 

 covered with a foot or two of peat. The trees, which were 

 50 years old in 1906, consist mainly of European spruce, 

 forming a thick even crop, and attaining 36 to 45 feet in 

 height at 1700 feet, and 60 to 75 feet at 1250 feet 

 elevation. The volume per acre was 3500 cubic feet at 

 the higher altitude, and 4500 cubic feet on the side of the 

 River South Tyne. Mingled with the common species there 

 were some American white spruce, which had succeeded 

 well on the exposed margins at high elevations. This 

 remarkable plantation is described fully by Mr. A. C, 

 Forbes in Trans. Roy. Scot. Arbor. Soc. xx. 153 (1907), who 



