OAKS SUITED FOR SCOTLAND, 189 



US to conclude that the species will thrive on such 

 land as we can now spare for the growth of timber, 

 let us inquire whether that species was a native of 

 the vast natural forests which once existed in Scot- 

 land? If we have any faith either in history or 

 tradition, we must be convinced that the affirma- 

 tive is the truth. For, from both these sources, we 

 may gather directly, as well as indirectly, that the 

 oak was not only to be found here and there in 

 these forests, but that it abounded in them, — that 

 it was not confined to a few districts, but was dif- 

 fused over the whole country, — that it attained to 

 a great size, — that oak timber was employed in the 

 various departments of building and artificers' work, 

 and that oak billets were used for fuel ; nay, that oak 

 was so plentiful, and its preservation deemed as a mat- 

 ter of so little consequence, that large tracts of it were 

 sometimes burnt down, not only for the sake of 

 clearing the ground, but even on the strange pre- 

 tence of dislodging a few miserable outlaws or ban- 

 dittis 



From history and tradition, then, the opinion of 

 those who say that our soil is not generally qualified 

 for the production of oak, derives not support, but 

 confutation. Lest, however, they should doubt or 

 discredit such sources of evidence, we have proof of 



