96 



ON QUALITY OF SOIL. 



draining is necessary, to carry off the surface water. 

 The soil most favourable to it is, perhaps, a sandy 

 loam, but it will thrive on light soils in general, on 

 a substratum of gravel, or even of solid rock, pro- 

 vided there be as much vegetable mould as to per- 

 mit it to fix its roots. Gigantic specimens of it are 

 to be seen in the district of Braemar, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, in situations where its fibres have found no 

 better lodgment than the chinks and crevices of 

 granite. The finest Scots firs any where to be met 

 with, occur in the neighbourhood of the river Dee, 

 in the above mentioned county, especially in Mar 

 forest, the property of the Earl of Fife ; the forest 

 of Glen tanner, the property of the Earl of Aboyne; 

 and the woods of Invercauld, belonging to Mr 

 Farquharson. In all these places the ground is 

 mountainous, wild, and rugged, and the subsoil 

 varies from the poorest quality of sandy loam to 

 gravel and rock, but in no instance that I recollect 

 does it approach to clay. On the banks of the Don, 

 a neighbouring river, where the soil, in general, has 

 more tenacity, the Scots fir is not found in nearly 

 so great perfection. Stiff land, indeed, seems to be 

 decidedly hostile to its growth, as we scarce ever 

 find it either plentiful, or of large size, in districts 

 where clay abounds. It is very impatient of the 

 spray of the sea, and hence comparatively few thri- 



