ABSTRACT
Scottish woodland history needs reinvigoration. It would be unfair to deny that some useful work has appeared in the last half century, but all too many authors have accepted myth and legend at face value, and reverently copied their predecessors’ unverified claims and effective episodes. There is a real need for critical reassessment, and above all for careful use of the large amount of primary manuscript material that has become accessible for study in the last few decades. It is necessary to be selective, and attention will be concentrated on commercial forestry. This means that little reference will be made to purely decorative plantations, or to the areas of woodland (common in the Highlands) within which cutting by estate tenants was tolerated or encouraged. Post-medieval Scotland was a relatively bare country, lacking both residual woodland and the hedgerow trees and planted clumps that formed a tolerable substitute in the critical eyes of English travellers.
