Office of HM Woods Envelope
The image is courtesy of David Jardine, West Argyll Forest District, Lochgilphead who has the framed image on his wall.
This piece of stationary dates from the time when the Crown Office set up an experimental forest at Inverliever which was to be established by planting trees into difficult, wet and sometimes peaty soil conditions. The forest was initiated about 1907 and was subsumed into the Forestry Commission estate around 1920 as Inverliever Forest (years to be confirmed).
The first forester was obviously based at The Crown Forester’s House, Ford, Lochgilphead, N B (What does NB stand for? - North Britain!). The first Forester, John Boyd, came from Pollock Estate where he was employed by John Stirling Maxwell and had some experience of planting trees in the very difficult conditions at his Corrour Estate around Loch Ossian.
The following is part of a quote from Hansard in July 1918 of a reply by Lord Clinton to The Duke of Buccleuch’s question on costs and progress of planting on the Crown Estate of Inverliever from 1907.
‘The noble Duke asks how much of this expenditure has been incurred in planting and replanting new ground. I have one figure here which might answer the Question, and that is the actual cost of the plants purchased, and the actual cost of putting in the ground. I do not know whether it is what the noble Duke requires, but the figure is £2,899 12s. I have a larger figure which I imagine is probably what the noble Duke wants. It is really the cost of establishing the plantation, and would include fencing, cleaning, cutting the weeds, draining, and the expenses of the nursery. The total cost of that is £7,406, or equal to about £6 per acre planted. The noble Duke asks for "the total area planted, and the number of plants used up to the present time." The total area planted is 1,256 acres, and the total number of plants used is 3,483,000, or, roughly speaking, about 3,000 plants to the acre. In the course of his speech the noble Duke also asked for some idea of the amount of land which has been found suitable for planting. The total area of the estate is 12,684 acres, of which a total of 3,600 acres has been found, in our recent surveys, to be capable of afforestation. The remainder is suitable for grazing, a great deal is bog and rock, and there is also about 1,500 acres of good ground which we are keeping for farms and small holdings.
The next Question of the noble Duke relates to the total expenditure apportioned under the following heads. Fencing has cost £918 14s. 2d.; draining, £581 3s.; plants and planting, £2,044 1s. 5d.; beating up and establishing crop, £396 9s. 10d.; cleaning and bracken cutting after planting, £430 2s. 4d.; nursery, £3,033 11s. 10d. cost of clearing sheep, £3,975 3s. 4d., while the general management and miscellaneous charges are £4,502 12s. 10d. I should, perhaps, have told the noble Duke in my statement in regard to £6 per acre that the management charges are not included ..............’
The full text can be found at: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1918/jul/10/the-estate-of-inverliever
The image of Crown House in 2016 is shown in the attached PDF.
Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports