BRITISH PLANTATIONS. 23 
various species have been grown from seed and thereby aceli- 
matized. 
During the present century, the influence of the Highland 
and Agricultural Society of Scotland has greatly facilitated the 
spread of plantations throughout the country, by awarding 
various premiums for the introduction of new timber trees, 
for the cultivation of the native Highland Scotch pine, and 
for the formation of extensive plantations throughout Scot- 
‘land. 
From the published reports of this Society, it appears that 
the late Earl of Seafield was by far the most extensive planter 
in Scotland during the first half of the present century, he 
having, at the date of the last report on the estates, planted 
30,000,000 of plants, in a space exceeding 8000 acres. This 
extent of plantation, perhaps, has not been approached by 
any British landowner since the formation of the extensive 
' plantations by the Duke of Athole during last century. But 
extensive as these plantations are, they are not greater than 
those formed recently, and now in course of formation, by the 
present Earl of Seafield, in proportion to the time that his 
Lordship has been in possession. Since the Honourable T. 
Bruce became commissioner on these estates, plantations have 
been formed, chiefly in Strathspey, in a congenial soil, and to 
an extent rarely equalled in this country. 
The other extensive planters in the north of Scotland dur- 
ing the early part of the present century have been the Duke 
of Richmond, the Duke of Sutherland, the Earl of Fife, Lord 
Loyat, Sir William G. Cumming of Altyre, Bart. ; and more 
recently may be added Sir George Macpherson Grant of Bal- 
lindalloch, Bart., Mr. Mathison of Ardross, and Mr. Fletcher 
of Rosehaugh, etc., all of whom have planted large forests on 
their properties. 
Such is a glance at the progress of the formation of planta- 
tions up to the present time. 
