[52 JI

Jace's oak, in the middle 6f the famous Torwood. This tree, which, when entire, meaſured 12 feet diameter*, af- forded in its wunk, bollowed by age, a ſeaſonable ſhelter, in an hour of danger, to the hero whoſe name it bears, and a company of his brave attendants, when ſtruggling'for the liberty of their country. A few ſmall decaying frägments only are all the remains that are now to be ſeen of this ve- nerable oak; and even theſe will ſoon be eradicated from the Torwood, 25 the virtuoßi, in ſeveral parts of the king« dom, are picking them all up, and forming them into va- rious devices for the glorious memory of the ever-celebra- ted Wallace.

Owing to the great advance in. tbe price of bark, during the laſt 20 years, the growth of the oak 13 more attended to than that ef any other ſpecies of wood. The moſt careful proprietors of natural woods leave /?andards, almoft always of oak, which grow to be valuable timber-trees, and do little injury to the coppices in which they grow. This. pratice ſeems to be gaining ground. Callender wood, con« ſſting of about 250 acres, has for ſome time paſt been treated in ſuch a way, as to,allow it to run wholly into large timber. The natural wood in the countymay conſiſt of 1350 acres. The profits ariſing from them may be annual- 1y from 8 s. to 25 8. Per acre. The value of many of them might be greatly increaſed, by paying proper attention to the fences by which they are incloſed; not permitting at any time cattle or ſheep to paſture in them; and by ſur- face open drains to carry: off the ſuperfluous water, which at preſent leſſens the value of that kind of property very much, eſpecially where the oak abounds. The Eller, (Betula alaus), is the moſt unprofitable of all the trees which compoſe the coppices. It, commeonly ſucceeds beſt in Jands that are moiſt. The willow ſeems to delight in tbe carſe-lands, where it. grows to a great ſize. Upon the hole, the oak, the aſh and the beech, are the trees moſt va-

IJuable in this county. Plantatons.

*. Statiſtical Hiſtory of Scotland, vol. 3. p+ 336-