Dear Guest,

The reference to the phrase

"the woods of germany grows in rows o'er the broken hearted"

May refer to conifer plantations in places where people used to live. But this happened long after the 'Clearances' took place.

Gillander, if memory serves me correctly was a Factor, like Patrick Sellar mentioned by Jim McLean in his post above.

You are correct in your comment regarding 'English' involvement - the main culprits were the major Highland landowners and lowland Scots. The first 'Clearances' took place along the Anglo-Scottish borders shortly after James the VIth succeeded to the throne of England in 1603. The clearances in the Highlands began later in the 1600's when the existing Highland landowners realised that there was more money in cattle than in men. Cattle breeding (almost totally for beef) was later replaced by sheep farming, which in turn gave way to game (grouse, pheasant, deer and salmon fishing), each change required fewer and fewer men. Forestry then was introduced during the Great War.

The funny thing was that those cleared off the land, once they arrived in Canada, America and Australia had no qualms about driving the native owners of the land so that they could benefit themselves.