504 Thinnings of Plantations. 
was unreasonable. In this dilemma, he betook himself to one of the 
resources which every proprietor, who is really bent on improving his 
property, can at all times command. He erected machinery for working 
circular saws in various parts of the woods, by means of which fences of 
various kinds, gates, ladders, in a word every thing for which the trees 
are suited, are formed at so trifling an expense as to induce every person 
to be possessed of them. The saw-mill, to which in particular, my 
attention was directed, is worked by a mountain stream, and so admira- 
bly is it constructed, that the edifice and machinery can with very little 
trouble be taken to pieces, and removed to any place where it may be 
required. I remained scarcely half an hour with the two labourers who 
attended the machine, but in that time they formed nine fathom of sheep 
fence, of which the accompanying sketch [fig. 87] will give an idea. 
To square and run two cuts through a tree, 
12 feet in length, and 5 inches in diameter, 
so as to form it into four rails, (a) was the 
work of little more than a minute. A num- 
ber of trees being so cut, an auger was ap- 
plied to one end of the axle of the saw; 
four uprights, (6) were held at once in the 
man's hands, and had scarcely been offered to the instrument when they 
were perforated. This being done, the auger was removed, and a tun- 
dish-shaped instrument, with a cutting edge on its inner surface, fixed in 
its place, in the cavity of which the end of a rail being introduced, it 
was instantaneously rounded so as exactly to fit the hole previously 
made. The parts are then fitted together, and a blow of the mallet 
serves to firm the work without the addition of a wedge or nail, except 
a few of the latter in the stays, [c) I was so much pleased with this 
very simple contrivance, and one which I consider of so much impor- 
tance to proprietors of wooded land, that I was induced to erect a work- 
ing model of it, to which I have added the simple contrivance adopted 
in Switzerland, for working the frame-saw. These I shall have much 
pleasure in shewing and explaining to any person interested in these 
matters, who may choose to call at my place ; and I have no doubt that 
Mr. Ross, the intelligent gardener at Dunkeld, will feel equally happy in 
affording any information which may be required. Such, at least, I 
found to be the case when I had the pleasure of calling on him. 
I should observe, that the expense of erecting an effective circular saw, 
where it may be necessary to make the water-wheel, will not exceed 
£40, a sum which in most situations will be returned in clear profit in 
less than quarter of a year after it is set to work. 
The rejectamenta of non-resinous plantations may he applied to a 
great variety of useful purposes, and they would be still more valuable 
were sufficient consideration bestowed when forming the plantation} 
