58 MODES OF FOREST PLANTING. 
nings of this plantation cannot fail to yield many thousands 
of pounds, with every prospect of the standing timber at the 
end of either of these periods being worth more than double 
its present estimated value. 
At the time of the formation of this plantation the ordinary 
transit for timber to market in the quarter was by floating in 
rafts on the river Spey and shipping at Speymouth. Moun- 
tain streams everywhere abound, and afford convenient: power 
for the manufacture of timber by saw-mills. 
Other means of transit have lately been established. In 
this remote district the Strathspey railway runs close to 
the south side of the plantation, and cries aloud for traffic, 
which no doubt enhances the value of timber in the 
district. 
The other plantations which I formed in the autumn or 
winter of 1830 are equally successful. They stand on ground 
of a lower altitude ; but as it was very bare and exposed, and 
as a considerable portion of the heath had been burned off two 
or three years before being planted, and as the soil consists 
generally of a sandy peat on a dry subsoil of sand and gravel, 
the smallest description of plants was employed, and the cir- 
cumstances rendered close planting indispensable. The fol- 
lowing was generally the number of plants inserted at about 
three feet asunder :— 
2000 one-year seedling larch, . ‘ ; £0 2 6 
1000 two-year do. do, . ; ‘ 0 2 0 
3000 two-year native Scotch firs, . : 0 3 °0 
Expense of planting 6000, . : : 0 3 «0 
Total expense per Scotch acre, . £0 10 6 
The above was the contracted price per acre; all plants for 
replanting, if such should be required, were to be supplied ; 
but the expense of work in filling up was to be defrayed by 
the proprietor. The ground being well adapted for the 
plants, no failure was perceptible, except along a small space 
of grassy vegetation which required additional drainage, and 
