98 



ON QUALITY OF SOIL, 



hood of gentlemen's seats in the Carse of Gowrie^ 

 where the soil is deemed as tenacious as any in 

 Scotland. This tree is one of the surest growers 

 we have in barren soils ; and, where a proprietor is 

 in doubt what kind of wood he should plant in any 

 piece of tolerably dry waste land, it is a good gene- 

 ral rule to put in a considerable proportion of 

 larches, or rather to make them the staple of the 

 plantation. 



The next most generally cultivated of the fir 

 tribes is the Spruce. It is as partial to moist land 

 as the Scots fir is to dry ; and, in this particular, 

 these two species stand directly opposed to one ano- 

 ther. Nothing possibly can be a greater error in 

 attempting to rear timber, than to plant spruce in 

 ground that has not a very considerable degree of 

 moisture. It may, indeed, appear to thrive in a 

 dry situation for a few years ; but, by the time it 

 reaches ten or twelve feet in height, its lower 

 branches will begin to decay, and, after that period, 

 it will make little progress, but remain a mere cum- 

 berer of the ground, as unsightly as it will be un- 

 profitable. If well supplied with moisture, it will 

 thrive better on the most indifferent land, than 

 without that requisite, it will do on the best of soils. 

 At i'ountess wells, within five miles of Aberdeen, 



