This bulletin is an account of investigations conducted during a number of years by Dr. G. K. Fraser, of the Department of Forestry, Aberdeen University, into the establishment of timber crops on peat soils in Scotland and particularly under west coast conditions as illustrated at Inverliever on Loch Awe. The investigations recorded in this bulletin are intended to assist the forester in recognising the different kinds of peat in the field and to assess their probable value for afforestation and at the same time to make clear the causes which have led to the unsatisfactory soil conditions in those peat areas which have, in the past, been regarded as unplantable. One object of these investigations has therefore been to obtain information likely to be useful in indicating how the less tractable peat areas may be rendered fit for afforestation.