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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM,

PART III,

trees are much crowded, and of nearly an equal size, especially when situatednear a road or river, where timber is of most value; but this is not attendedto in the more remote parts of the forests. I have only seen the treespruned when they stand quite thin, or, from having lost their leading shoots,by sheep pasturing the ground, or other casualty, have become bushy. Inthis case, I have seen a considerable extent gone over in January and Fe-bruary, and pruned to the height of from 2 ft. to 4- ft. with the axe ; the wholeheight of the trees being from 5 ft. to 10 ft. In the Highland natural forests,the young plants do not often rise of equal strength and size. There iscommonly a portion of them (a sufficient crop) stout enough to overtop thesmaller ones; and the latter are of much benefit in preventing the sidebranches of the former from advancing to a large size. The side branchesof the true Highland pine naturally take a wide or horizontal direction,whereby they are more subject to decay by the closeness of the trees, thanif they inclined to a more perpendicular figure, as do our Low Country pines.In planted woods, the pine trees are commonly of the same size and age; andthen it is absolutely necessary to thin them, as their tops rise equal, andform a surface parallel to that of the ground on which they stand; there-fore, without relief by thinning, the whole are, to a certain extent, injured;whereas, in natural forests, the difference of sizes and ages is great, andthe strongest prevail unhurt. I am acquainted with many artificial planta-tions of pine; and the common method is, to thin the trees gradually as theyget too close or too high for their girt. Planted pines are not commonly pruned,that being considered the worst mode of treatment. Many proprietors, oflate, have given over thinning; but the woods are much hurt by being toomuch confined. A good tree can scarcely be seen, except near the outside,or where a road opens up and admits air. I am clearly of opinion that weshall not have good pine plantations until they are produced from the seedsof the native Highland forests, which are more healthy and permanent thanthe kind commonly cultivated. — John Grigor. Forres, Sept. 9. 1837.”

The Earl of Aberdeen; Macpherson Grant, Esq., of Ballindalloch; Mr.George Saunders, gardener and forester to the Duke of Richmond atGordon Castle; Mr. Roy, nurseryman, Aberdeen; and other proprietors andgardeners of the north, have sent us answers to all our queries on the subjectof thinning and pruning, which correspond with those given above by Mr.Grigor. From the Earl of Aberdeen’s letter, we give the following extract:— “I received your letter during an excursion in the upper part of thiscounty, precisely in the neighbourhood of those natural fir forests respectingwhich you had written to me. From the information I have received, Ithink I may venture to assure you that these forests are never thinned,at least with the view of promoting the growth of the trees; nor, in fact,with the exception, perhaps, of draining to a limited extent, in particularsituations, does there appear to be any care taken, or any managementwhatever to exist. This, indeed, is sufficiently obvious from the very ap-pearance of the forest; on large portions of which the trees are thinlyscattered, and at considerable intervals ; in other parts, they are crowdedtogether, and stand more densely than they could ever have been placed bythe hand of the planter. This appearance, however, is not so much the con-sequence of neglect, as the result of an opinion that it is best not to meddlewith the trees at all. They are left to thin themselves, as it is called, bywhich the weak plants are overpowered, and destroyed by the stronger. 1have also been assured that, in cases where the most judicious thinning hasbeen attempted, the admission of the wind has proved much more injuriousto the remaining trees, than is experienced in young woods of the plantedfir under similar treatment. I imagine that the finest fir forests now existingin Scotland are those to which 1 have referred, in the upper part of thevalley of the Dee, and in the district of Braemar . Many of the trees are ofgreat size and beauty. I have seen none, however, at all to compare with atree cut in the Duke of Gordon’s forest of Glenmore, and of which a plank ispreserved at Gordon Castle, measuring 5ft. Sin. in diameter, of perfectly