Inverinan Forest Nursery circa 1967
Photograph taken by Don MacCaskill and image courtesy of Bridget MacCaskill, Strathyre. Don was based as Head Forester at Inverinan from about 1960 through to 1968 before transferring initially to Allean Forest and then Strathyre Forest in 1972.
No information was attached to the photograph but with help from Duncan MacDougall, this has been identified as Inverinan Forest Nursery. This is a view over some transplant lines of older Sitka spruce trees which are in the process of being lifted for planting on the hill. One lady is using the fork to loosen the trees and the rest are following up by hand pulling the loosened trees and laying them at the side in loose bundles on the bare ground. The next stage would be the counting of trees into 50s or 100s and tying them into bundles with string for transport out to the forest planting areas.
Can anyone any name the ladies or who they might be?
The great advantage of local nurseries before the advent of better roads and lorries was that the trees were freshly lifted and often straight out onto the planting site resulting in much better survival rates. The disadvantage particularly on the west coast was the absence of suitable dryer soils and dry climate resulting in very heavy wed growth and time lost waiting for the sites to dry up before lining out or lifting operations could begin.
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Groups: Forest Nurseries, Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Groups of people
A special easy to open knot was required. This was cut by a razor sharp ring on your finger much faster than a knife. The string was binder twine held in a round metal tin with a hole drilled in the center of the lid. Three were often used at a time. The bundles were then left in stacks roots facing inwards to avoid drying out. This nursery had a large work force and a output to match. Comment left on 25 March 2016 at 23:28 by Leslie Phillip