TIMBER. 



of timber : and this, it is thought, may lead to more cxtcnfive 

 obfervauons.aiiJ perhaps more favoiiriible conclufions relative 



to It. 



The pla..tations of the timber kind which were made at 

 Kiunaird callle in the years ,770-1790, arc, it is faid, well 

 known in t!i north of S :;)tland. They were chiefly oj 

 deciduous tr.x-s, among which were generally introduced 

 larches for (lielter. Thclc lardies, in fome places, grow with 

 aftoniftiing rapidity. On many flopes, where the furface-foi! 

 was good though not deep, and the fub-foil a fandy gravel, 

 they advanced upwards of live feet a year for thefirft: fix 6r 

 eight years after being put in. As they overtopped and 

 crowded the deciduous trees, they were gradually felled ; 

 and as much had been faid about the durability of larch- 

 wood, the firft trees that were cut down were fawn up, and 

 applied to a purpofo which was perhaps, 5t is thought, one 

 of the bell telts of their dui-able properties. This purpofe 

 was the foot-paths of peach-houfes and vineries, where they 

 were expofed to alternate drought and moifture, heat and 

 cold, and where common deal and other kinds of wood had 

 repeatedly failed. The larch deal of thefe trees was, it is 

 ftated, apphed in the fame way as the others, and in lefs 

 than two years was completely rotten and deftroyed ! 



It may, it is conceived, be alleged by fome, that this 

 could only hold true in regard to the fap, or laft formed 

 wood : but the heart, or red central wood which was pre- 

 fent, though it laited longer, did not, it is affirmed, endure 

 three years ! The vaft number of thefe trees annually taken 

 down, were afterwards, it is faid, cliiefiy made ufe of as 

 fuel ; and though this wood had been afTerted not to flame, 

 or be confumed without the affiflance of other wood, it did 

 not, in this cafe, flame violently, but it burned by itfelfwith- 

 out care or attention, and iinaflifled from other timber-wood, 

 producing numerous fires for labourer's ufes. In rendering 

 U fit for this purpofe too, the workmen found it extremely 

 brittle, a tree a foot in diameter being often broken with 

 the greateft eafe, by means of two or three blows given writh 

 the back of the hatchet. The tops and fide-branches of 

 them were likewife remarkably light and brittle, as are known 

 to many perfons in that part of the country as well as this. 

 See Timber, Crooked Growth of. 



Thefe fadls are faid to deferve a very ferious attention, 

 and to lead to very important conclufions, in refpeft to the 

 cultivation and growth of this tree as timber in this country. 

 They arc not folitary ones ; for though, as yet, fufficient 

 time has not elapfed for a fair trial of this wood in differ- 

 ent foils and fituations, yet fome have found it much lefs 

 durable than others ; and that an attentive, nice obferver 

 will, it is thought, perceive larch-trees in fome rich warm 

 fituations in a decaying ilate, and others growing fo rapidly, 

 or fo much fide-lopped or pruned, as to fuggefl doubts, 

 whether their duration will be much longer than thofe of 

 the above caflle. 



And, fourthly, that in Scotland, the difference of dura- 

 bility between common fir-wood which has been of flow 

 growth, and that which has been forced, as it is termed, 

 cither by fhelter, advantageous foil, fituation, or chmate, or 

 by lopping off the fide-branches, is known to every car- 

 penter in the more northern parts of it, efpecially in the 

 diflriAs of Perth, Stirhng, and Argyle. There, it is faid, 

 they diilinguilh the wood cut as timber in the native forefls, 

 from that obtained in plantations, by calling the former 

 highland-fir, and the latter park-fir. The highland-fir is 

 mofl efteemed, on account of its greater durabiUty, being 

 frequently found undecayed in ancient buildings when other 

 forts arc entu-ely wafled. Thefe circumftances are ftrongly 

 fupportcd, it is thought, by Mr. Lambert, v/ho, in fpeak- 



ing of the genus Pimu, has faid, that " this ftriking differ- 

 ence between the highland and park fir, is probably to br 

 attributed to the mountainous and rocky fituations in which 

 the native timber is found, and where, the trees being of 

 flower growth, the wood is confcquently of a harder tex- 

 ture." Tlie fame writer is of opinion too, it is faid, that 

 few fpecics of pines will endure more than forty years in 

 the foils in which they are commonly fet out or planted in 

 England. Indeed, there arc many proofs of this, it is 

 thought, from Croom, Kew, and other places ; thougli 

 there are fome excellent fir-trees at Langhangles, where 

 the foil is deep and cold, that are mucli older than that 

 period. The greater durability of the former fort of fir- 

 timber may be daily feen, it is faid, in the flill more 

 northern diftrifts of Aberdeen, BamfF, and fome others, 

 during the removal of old farm-houfes aud cottages ; as 

 wherever a piece of the highland-fir appears, it is always of 

 a much deeper yellow than the park or low country fir. 

 At Gogar, it is faid, fome large fir-trees were taken down 

 in 1795 ; they grew upon a deep cold loam ; the wood was 

 fawn up, and was found of excellent quality as timber. 

 About a mile from this, at Lenny Park, a Avy bank is 

 covered with fir-trees of greater age than thofe of the 

 former fituation ; fome of them have been taken down at 

 different periods before and fince that time, and have uni- 

 formly been found of inferior quahty as timbet-wood. In 

 1804, too, a number of fir-trees were taken down from the 

 rocky banks of the Almond, between Craigie Hail and 

 Cramond Houfe ; and they were found of excellent quality in 

 their wood. While at Bevelaw, there are extenfive plant- 

 ations of fir-trees, which have been often thinned ; but the trees 

 have grown fo fafl, and been fo much cut or pruned in the 

 branches, that they never laft long, it is faid, as paling« 

 All thefe cafes have either come under the writer's own par- 

 ticular notice, or that of a relation of his, who is highly iii- 

 terefted in the value of park-fir, and, of courfe, has paid a' 

 more than common attention to the matter. A great 

 number of other inftances might, it is faid, be here added, 

 but it is unnecefTary : and the comparifon of the wood of 

 the common crab, the father of the orchard, with that of 

 the cultivated apple, is in fupport of the fame. Any perfon 

 who will take the trouble to examine the fir -woods at 

 Gordon Caftle, and contraft them with others in the county 

 of Perth, and thofe in England, will, it is thought, unquef^ 

 tionably come to thefe conclufions : that Jloiti gro'wth is ef- 

 fentially neceffary to the durability of fir-timber ; and that 

 wherever the accumulation of wood has been accelerated by 

 culture of the foil, improvement of the climate, or by cut- 

 ting and pruning, it is injured in quality in propoition to 

 the ratio in which thefe agents have been employed. It ia 

 not faid, that no branches fhould ever be cut from fir-trees, 

 but that it is certain that judgment muft direft to cut off, 

 in general only, fucti as indicate that they are no longer of 

 much ufe, which is eafily difcovered by marks of approach- 

 ing decay. 



Much of the above principles, reafonings, and conclufions, 

 is probably, in fome meafure, equally applicable to other 

 forts of timber. 



In the raifing and growth of timber of the fir or Scots 

 pine kind, it is found not well fuited to very elevated fitu- 

 ations, as the fharpnefs and keennefs of fuch expofures 

 bring it too quickly into a ftate of decay and death. The 

 writer of an agricultural furvey of one of the more north- 

 ern diftriSs of Scotland has remarked, that there is a kindl 

 of laminated clay, much difpofed to diffolve with water, 

 which is not favourable to the growth of this, or any of the 

 pine tribe, I^ fucceeds very well, i% is faid, however, iat < 



mo|^ 



