PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. lix 
Middle Division (Age 13— 30 Essays):— 
1. Donald I. M'Gillewie, Royal Grammar School, Dunkeld. 
2. William Sanderson, do. do. 
3. Bethia M. Rodger, Western District School, Perth. 
4. John T. Keay, Sharp’s Institution, do. 
5. George Macgregor, Caledonian Road School, do. 
Junior Division (Age 12—32 Essays):— 
1. Marguerita A. Mackay, Royal Grammar School, Dunkeld. 
2. James Hutton, do. do. 
3. James Martin, Southern District School, Perth. 
4. Gracie H. Gall, do. do. 
5. John M‘Cowan, Caledonian Road School, do. 
In my last Annual Address I treated Geology, and especially the 
Geology of Perthshire, from an aesthetic standpoint. This year I 
propose to do the same with regard to 
THE WOODLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 
There is no feature of the Natural History of our county which is 
more conspicuous than its tree-flora, and yet only two papers have 
been brought before our Society dealing with this subject. One of 
these was a paper on “The Native Timber Trees of Perthshire,” read 
by the late Mr. William Lindsay in 1885, and dealing almost exclu¬ 
sively with the economic properties of the different timbers; while 
the other was the elaborate paper by Mr. Robert Smith on “ Plant 
Associations of the Tay Basin,” the first part of which was read two 
years ago, and the second part during the present session. Mr. 
Smith’s paper deals with the trees chiefly from the point of view of 
habitat and environment. 
I shall not attempt a strictly botanical treatment of the subject, 
as, even if I were competent to undertake it, such a treatment would 
be out of place in an address like the present. I wish rather to treat 
the trees as I did the rocks last year, namely, as features of the 
landscape. 
There is no county in Scotland—or, indeed, in Britain—which 
possesses such variety of woodland scenery as Perthshire does. 
Other counties certainly excel it in richness of deciduous wooding, in 
extent of pine forests, or in the development of individual species, 
but none can show such infinite variety of sylvan effect as our own. 
Every artist knows that it is not the densest mass of foliage or the 
best nurtured specimens of arboriculture which produce the most 
pleasing effect in the landscape. It is rather the blending of tint 
and of form produced by the mingling of divers species, and under 
varying conditions of soil and climate, which produce the most 
picturesque results. It is just such varying conditions that we find 
in the district embraced within the bounds of our own county. 
Take, for example, the course of the river Tay, from its source in the 
western Grampians to the Carse of Gowrie. As I have pointed out 
in a former address on the Soils of Perthshire, we have, in the valley 
