528 ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



proper to be mentioned. There, on land worth little or nothing 

 in aration or pasture, are oak woods, principally natural, the 

 undergrowth of which is sold every twenty-five years, at the rate 

 of .£35. or .£60. per acre* ; the purchaser being at all expence 

 of cutting, carriage, &c. This is from 25s. to 48 s. per acre an- 

 nually, independently of the value of the timber-trees left, 

 fifty of which usually remain on each acre. If the soil and 

 exposure of these woods be taken into consideration, the growth 

 of the trees will appear considerable. But I have observed 

 that oaks do not grow half so fast at Dunkeld, as they do in the 

 low and comparatively sheltered grounds of the Lowlands of 

 Scotland, or England ; and I am confident, that if oak woods 

 were planted (or at least undergrowths of oak, in woods of any 

 other deciduous tree) in these districts, it would afford at least 

 double the profit that it does in the Highlands : it would grow 

 equal in size to Dunkeld undergrowth in twelve or thirteen 

 years, and afford two cuttings instead of one. Many places in 

 the woods of Dunkeld are too thin, and others are covered with 

 birches ; but where artificial plantations are to be made, the 

 plants could be placed regularly thick ; which of course would 

 produce a much more uniform crop, and also make a surface of 

 the same extent more profitable. Lest, however, I should be 

 thought in any degree to make oak undergrowth appear more 



* The statute acre is understood here. 



