83 



cents per yard, posts and all, and is much used. After ten years, or when the trees have 

 grown out of harm's way, pasture is sometimes let. Enclosed plantations for this pur- 

 • pose command 2s. 6d. per acre, while ordinary hill side pasture gets but 6d. 



The Earl of Mansfield's woods, in Perthshire, These are about 10,000 acres. 

 Planting is going on constantly. There are nine district foresters, and a large staff of wood- 

 men. A large plantation of Douglas pine is mentioned as doing remarkably well. They 

 were planted in pits fifteen feet apart, fifteen inches square, and ten inches deep, with larch 

 and Scotch fir nurses at four feet apart. The pines average twenty-five feet in height. 

 The nurses are being removed. The overseer disagrees with the Strathspey statement as 

 to leaving the land bare, and considers that it is only the insects (the beetle) which 

 hinder the growth of seedlings on land cleared of conifers. He succeeds well by exclud- 

 ing cattle for one year, letting the grass, etc., grow, then burning it when dry, and 

 planting out. 



The Duke of Athol's woods, in Perthshire comprise 10,000 acres, and were com- 

 menced in 1728, principally with larch, which has done well in places, but is now under- 

 going the substitution of Scotch fir, which pays better. Oak coppice cut at intervals of 

 twenty years yield $60 per acre. 



Forests of Luss and the Harz. 



Another gentleman, M. Gustav Mann, Conservator of Forests in Bengal, has pro- 

 ceeded to Germany for the same purpose as Capt. Walker, and gives some further 

 important information relative to the German forests. 



In the plain of North Germany the Scotch fir is the principal forest tree, and better 

 suited for deep, loose, sandy, than for heavy loaming soil. 



The great "Luneberg Heath" is mentioned, as having been covered with wood, but 

 the indifference of the inhabitants to the existence of forests, originating in the common 

 belief that they will continue to exist, no matter how recklessly treated, the desire of the 

 villagers to get grazing ground for their cattle by burning the forests, the indiscriminate 

 usage of the wood and method of felling in vogue, have destroyed hundreds of miles of 

 forest, and have left the greater part of the Luneberg Heath barren, covered almost 

 exclusively with heather, and of little use to any one. Now the evils are seen, and with 

 a view of restoring these forests large sums of money, and much skill and labour, are 

 being expended. 



I will quote here a short description of the method used in planting the Scotch fir 

 in such localities. The land is first ploughed, after which a man proceeds along the bed, 

 making holes at distances three feet by five, with a wedge spade (one quite straight, made 

 all of wood except the edge, which is shod some inches high with iron, and is two inches 

 thick at the top of the blade). This he forces into the ground, withdraws it, and passes 

 on, while two women foUow him, who plant by holding the seedling against one side of 

 the hole, while with their foot they press the opposite earth against the plant. The 

 material for planting consists of one-year old seedlings of Scotch fir, and occasionally a 

 two-year old seedling of spruce, which are raised in the ordinary way by sowing in fur- 

 rows. The Scotch fir requires more light and air than any other, and does not thrive at 



