PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 501 



the rocky banks of the Almond between Craigie Hall and 

 Cramond House ; and they were found of excellent quality. 

 At Be vela w there are extensive plantations of fir trees, which 

 have been often thinned ; but the trees have grown so fast, and 

 have been so much pruned, that they never last long as paling. 

 All these cases have come under my particular notice and that 

 of a relation of mine, Robert Karlaw, Esq. who, being highly 

 interested in the value of park fir, has paid a more than com- 

 mon attention to the subject. Numberless instances* might be 

 added to the above, but I trust it is needless. Any person who 

 shall take the trouble to examine the fir woods at Gordon 

 Castle, and contrast them with others in Perthshire and those 

 in England, will unquestionably come to these conclusions : 

 that slow growth is essentially necessary to the durability of fir tim- 

 ber; and that wherever the accumulation of wood has been accele- 

 rated by culture of the soil, improvement of the climate, or by 

 pruning, it is injured in quality in proportion to the ratio in which 

 these agents have been employed. I do not say, that no branches 

 should ever be cut from fir trees; but I am certain that iudo> 

 ment will direct to cut off generally only such as indicate that 

 they are no longer of much use, which is easily discovered by 

 marks of approaching decay. 



* By comparing the wood of the common crab (the father of our orchards) 

 with that of the cultivated apple, what I am endeavouring to prove in this section 

 will be evident to every candid mind. 



