Notes on planting Timber Trees in Scotland. &65 



and sundry other misfortunes to happen to it. However, with 

 a very moderate degree of care, it will answer, and in many 

 situations has answered, all the purposes of the stone dike, and, 

 so far as appearances go, it is much prettier to look at. I 

 do not approve of sowing whins on these dikes; for, unless they 

 are regularly switched, they spread into the adjoining fields, and 

 become a great nuisance, and are often destroyed by frost. 



Drainage. — Draining is requisite in a plantation, which also 

 is much neglected : by draining, I mean particularly surface 

 drains ; these can be made at a very small cost ; about a penny 

 a rood for the ordinary sheep drains, which they resemble, 20 in. 

 wide at top, 14 in. at bottom, and about 12 in. deep. The be- 

 nefit of these drains is immense, in drying the ground, and it is 

 worthy of attention to observe that along the line of drain, upon 

 the stuff thrown out, the trees beat their neighbours ; and you 

 can often follow out the line of drain, by looking along the tops 

 of the young trees, which, in the above situation, are so much 

 more vigorous than their neighbours, that they sometimes re- 

 semble a hedge on a bare part of the plantation. 



If a stone dike is made, there ought to be, in about every 

 hundred yards, a set of steps, forming a stile, for crossing into 

 the plantation. This will be found a great saving to the wall, 

 if sportsmen and their dogs are in the habit occasionally of fol- 

 lowing game into it, for both man and dog will prefer the easiest 

 point for getting over the fence, and they will not pull down a 

 stone or two, every time they pass, to the danger of their legs, 

 and the detriment of the fence. Young plantations are a great 

 shelter for hares, and, if it is wished to give them access, let 

 pens or conduits, 12 in. by 9 in., be made also, every 100 or 200 

 yards, in the dike. Neither these, nor the stiles, will add a six- 

 pence to the original contract price of the dike. Let these pens 

 or conduits, however, be shut up in autumn, whenever the corn 

 is cut; as, when the hares lie in the plantation, and feed out of it, 

 they are easily snared on the runs leading to the pens. The 

 pens for the hares should be opened about the beginning of 

 March, and the keeper should look sharp to them. Any gate 

 to the plantation should be boarded, so as to prevent hares 

 passing in or out ; for, if this is not done, it is the poacher's 

 harvest field with his net. During the months of October to 

 March, inclusive, the hares will take the dike at any part, when 

 they wish access, but the young ones are not able to do it. 

 The pens are useful also for young partridges and pheasants pass- 

 ing to and from the cover. 



Edinburgh, July 1842. 



3d Ser.— 1842. IX. 



