FORESTRY 35 
The early destruction of the forest began in the time of the Romans. 
It was found to be impossible to drive out the inhabitants without 
destroying the forest, which was their natural fortress. The destruction 
of the forest and the felling of trees to make roads was therefore carried 
out on a large scale, to reach the inhabitants in their sylvan retreats. 
It is said that the Roman General Severus lost no fewer than about 
50,000 men in destroying the forests and endeavouring to overcome the 
physical barriers of the country. Historians seem to differ in opinion 
as to the presence or absence of extensive forests in the days of old, but 
surely we can rely on the numerous remains of large trees so commonly 
found all over the territory of the ancient Sylva Caledoniz as definite and 
satisfactory proof of the vast extent of the natural primeval forest. 
The work of forest destruction was not confined to military operations 
alone. In feudal times the population was led to believe that the 
growth of timber was an obstacle to the production of food, and wanton 
destruction of the’forest was carried to excess. ‘The barons of the time 
seem to have placed no restraint on this work of desolation, and by the 
fourteenth century Scotland was mostly devoid of timber except in the 
remote glens and other inaccessible places. 
The bleak and desolate condition of the country began to engage 
attention in the time of James I, who forbade the cutting down of trees. 
In 1457 the parliament of James II enacted that the king charge the 
tenants of all his freeholds both spiritual and temporal, that they plant 
woods and trees and make hedges and sow broom. In 1503 the 
parliament of James IV enacted that ‘every Lord and Laird, make 
them to have parks with deer, stanks, cunningares (rabbit warrens), 
dowcotts (dove-cots), orchards and hedges and plant-at least one acre of 
wood.’ In 1535 the above is ratified by the parliament of James V, 
and in addition, every man having ‘an hundred pounds land, of new 
extent,’ is required to plant three acres and to make hedges and haining, 
and ‘ that the tenants of every merk of land plant a tree.’ In 1668, in 
the reign of Charles II, further laws were enacted regarding the planting 
and tending of oak and other trees. 
In this connection it may be of interest to recall that in 1616, after 
one of these numerous insurrections fomented by the Macdonalds, Lords 
of the Isles, the leading island chiefs were bound over at Edinburgh 
amongst other things to build ‘ civil and comlie’ houses and to repair 
those that were decayed and to have ‘ police and planting about them.’ 
It is perhaps interesting to speculate as to what might have been, had 
the warlike western chiefs succeeded in conquering and overrunning the 
North-east of Scotland in 1411, led by Donald, Lord of the Isles, who 
claimed the Earldom of Ross. His claim was refuted by the Duke of 
Albany, who informed the chief that if he wanted Ross he must fight 
for it. Donald’s reply was to come east with a large army of Highlanders. 
He overran and ravished all Moray, and then set out south, with the in- 
tention of sacking and burning Aberdeen. At Harlaw, twenty miles north 
of Aberdeen, he was met by the Earl of Mar with a small but well- 
disciplined force of armoured burgesses. Donald and his army descended 
on them like a mountain torrent, but the wild charges and rushing waves 
