116 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TEEES 



estimated the average annual yield to be 60 cubic feet per 

 acre, or a gross return of 30 shillings per acre, spruce 

 finding a ready sale here at 6d. per cubic foot as pit 

 timber. 



In the Peak District a plantation of about 1000 acres, 

 lying in the Goyt Valley, south-west of Taxal, extends up 

 to 1700 feet elevation ; but all the trees that were planted 

 in exposed situations at high altitudes or on wet moorland 

 peat failed completely. Beech is vigorous and healthy up 

 to 1250 feet, and conifers flourish to about 1500 feet 

 elevation in this plantation. Spruce plantations on Kerry 

 Hill in Wales succeed fairly well up to an elevation of 

 1500 feet. 



On the west coast of Scotland, and in Ireland generally, 

 the timber-line, owing to the strong prevailing wind, is con- 

 siderably depressed as a rule. In the Wicklow Mountains 

 there are, however, good conifer plantations up to 1200 feet 

 elevation in situations sheltered from the west wind. 



It is often asserted that 1000 or 1200 feet represents 

 the upper limit of profitable afforestation ; but there is no 

 definite line, as so much depends on the presence or 

 absence of shelter and on the nature of the soil. In most 

 parts of Great Britain the elevation to which plantations 

 may extend varies between 1000 and 1500 feet ; but in 

 the west of Scotland and in the greater part of Ireland 

 there are many localities where trees cannot be successfully 

 planted above 700 feet. Even in the south of England 

 proximity to the west coast makes plantations at a high 

 altitude unprofitable. On Exmoor, west of Porlock, 830 

 acres of the Ashley Combe estate, between 1000 and 1400 

 feet elevation, were planted in 1850-1860 with larch, 

 spruce, and Scots pine. In 1913 the plantation was 

 reported to have been a failure financially, 500 acres being 

 a dead loss, while "200 acres . . . will never develop 

 into marketable timber and are not worth more than what 

 has been spent on them in cleaning, thinning, etc., without 

 reckoning anything for the cost of planting and rent of land. 

 Only 100 acres in the most favoured situations have given 



