518 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ANSWER to the QUERIES of MR. MOG- 
GRIDGE of the BOYCE, relative to 
the IMPROVEMENTS ¢f LORD FIFE. 
HE Earl of Fife began to plant in 
the year 1756. The trees whica 
meafure feven and a half feet, were plant- 
ed the year following. “They were taken 
out cf a nurfery, when about two years 
old, and planted in a deep loamy foil, on 
the bank of the river Devern. The 
largeft trees in his Lordfhip’s plantations 
are filver-frs and larch. It was to thofe 
that aliufion was made in the ftatement 
which attracted Mr. Mogeridge’s atten- 
tion. ‘The afh, beech, and oaks, how- 
ever, are very little inferior in dimenfion. 
Lord Fife, in the management of his 
plantations, has been particularly atten- 
tive in thinning them, and keeping up the 
fences in fuch thorough repair, as effec- 
tually to prevent the encroachment of 
cattle, which has hitherto, in the north of 
Scotland, been much negleéted. But his 
Lordfhip’s happy example begins now tobe 
foilowed by other cultivators.. In an extent 
of twelve thoufand ftandard Scotch acres, it 
would be an arduous tafk to give a par- 
ticular defcription of the various fcils ; 
but even on the moft expofed moors, and 
where the foil is extremely thin, oaks 
and other foreft trees, by the manage- 
ment above ftated, grow luxuriantly.— 
It Mr. Moggridge will take the trouble 
to read the letters fent by the Earl of Fife, 
in the years 1788 and 1797, to the Society 
of Arts and Commerce, publifhed in the 
_fixth and fifteenth volumes of their Tranf 
actions, he will find_an anfwer more at 
length to all his queries. In their next 
volume, a letter fent by his Lordfhip will 
alfo be publifhed. In this Mr. Mog- 
gridge will find a particular account of 
the trees planted, their fize when planted, 
their number per acre, and other c:ircam- 
fiances, which would extend this article 
unneceflarily, and which he will, no 
doubt, accept as an apology. 
But there is one miflake in Mr. Mog- 
gridge’s Letter, which muft be reétified. 
By the following fentence, ** The thin- 
ning of thefe plantations bring his Lord- 
fhip more than one thouf:nd pounds per 
annum,’ was meant, that the thinnings 
of all his plantations are of that yearly 
value. In thinning the woods, the worft 
trees are always cut, and the beft pre- 
ferved. In moft of the moors, a great 
many firs were planted, and are always 
exut down in order to make room for other 
foreit-trees. If Jarge, they are fold by 
Anfwer to the Queries of Mr. Moggridge 
[Jan. I, 
meafure ; if fmall, by lots. For the ufes 
to which they are applied, fee the Tran{+ 
actions of the Society of Arts and Com- 
merce. , ) 
It is a faét worthy of notice, and 
which may tend to the encouragement of 
planters in fimilar fituations, that, when 
the Earl of Fife firft began his planta- 
tions at Duff-houfe, there never had been 
a tree planted thereabouts, from an idea 
that trees would not grow fo near the fea 
on that coaft. His Lordfhip, however, 
has now the fatisfaction to fee every kind 
of foreft-trees, even on the higheft grounds, 
in the moft profperous ftate. This, in- 
deed, by proper management in fheltering 
the young trees, and {ecuring the planta- 
tions from the cattle, was with confi- 
dence, by a perfon of his’ Lordfhip’s in- 
formation and genius, to be expected.— 
Every where in Scotland, even on the 
brows of hills and mountains, Nay, ever 
in Iceland, are found, in moffes or mo- 
raffes, trees of very large fize, the veltiges 
of woods which were formerly fpread over 
the whole face of the country. 
On receiving Mr. Moggridge’s Letter, . 
we made it our bufinefs to apply for an 
anfwer to his queries, to the gertleman to » 
whom we are indebted for ‘* The prefent 
State of the County of Bamff, with 
Anecdotes of the Proprietors,”” who is a 
native, and well acquainted with that and 
the adjacent counties, and which was pub- 
lifhed in this Magazine for September 
laft. His letter is fraught with many 
encomiums on the enlightened economy 
and patriotifm of Lord Fife, whofe con- 
du& he contrafts with the diffipation of 
other landed proprietors, and their ftupid 
inattention to either their own or their 
country’s good; and alfo to what is 
worfe, the banifhment of plantations, 
agriculture, and men, for the fake of 
multiplying fheep. In thefe eulogies we 
cordially join our Northern Corre!pond- 
en: ; and we congratulate our country on 
the poffeffion of fuch landed proprietors as 
-both the Earl of Fife, and Mr. Mog- 
gridge of the Boyce. There is net a 
doubt but our Caledonian friend has ex-| 
a&tly ftated the truth, or that his praifes 
of Lord Fife, who appears to be a father 
to his tenantry and people, are well de- 
ferved. His teftimony is corroborated 
by that of an intelligent Eoglith travel- 
ler, Captain Newte, of Tiverton, Devon- 
fhire, who, in his Tour in England and 
Scotland, 1785, fays, ‘* Near the town 
of Bamff is Duff-houfe, the feat of the 
Earl of Fife, a very large pile of building, 
with a fquare tower at each end. The 
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