ON THE COKSICAN FIR, 235 



of 2 inches diameter, plant 700 or 800 seedlings per diem, in- 

 €liiding carrying them a short distance from tlie nursery. For 

 dry, loose sand, or for very wet soils, this instrument is not in- 

 tended ; such soils are not cohesive enough to form the balls of 

 ■earth, 



A word or two concerning mixed plantations can here not be 

 out of place. The mixture of this along with the Scotch fir can- 

 not be recommended, for the latter grows more rapidly, and soon 

 overshadows the former, which, although bearing more shade 

 than either the Scotch or Weymouth pines, gradually gets un- 

 healthy and deformed. As an associate for the spruce or silver 

 firs it is not well suited; even if gaining a slight advantage during 

 the first few years it soon is overtaken, and then all hope of its 

 recovery is lost. If single stems, equally distributed over the 

 area were allowed a few years' growth in advance {e.g., planting 

 four-year old Corsican firs and sowing silver or spruce firs), the 

 growth soon becomes crooked and the branches spread out widely; 

 later on, if the other firs are of more rapid growth, their top shoots, 

 and buds are damaged or cut off 1)}^ the far-spreading elastic 

 branches. 



Concerning most mixtures of this tree, sufficient observations 

 have not yet been made; the appearance it would present if 

 occurring singly among beech, oak, larch, Weymouth pine, &c., 

 can only be conjectured by the aid of theory, practical and re- 

 liable data being on this point awanting. On the whole, it seems 

 not well adapted for forming mixed forests, as the amount of 

 timber it yields is not great, but under certain unfavourable cir- 

 cumstances (as already described on pages 230 and 231), it may 

 frequently be called into requisition. 



It has previously been remarked that the Corsican fir offers 

 more resistance to storms than any other conifer usually culti- 

 vated in our clhnate, and that it scarcely suffers from frost. 

 Occasionally, however, the frosts of spring give rise to a peculiar 

 disease, called by German foresters " Schuette," that causes young 

 plants to wither. The leaves first assume a yellow unhealthy 

 hue, and finally, when life in the plant has ceased, change to a 

 rusty red colour. The Corsican fir is less exposed to the danger 

 than the Scotch fir. It frequently attacks young plantations in 

 situations fully exposed to the sunlight, and is supposed* to be 

 due to the considerable difference of temperature between atmo- 

 sphere and soil that is often observable in spring. The sun raises 

 the temperature of the air to such a height that a large amount 

 of moisture is exhaled from the leaves, while, on account of the 

 soil, temperature still being comparatively low, the root system 

 is not enabled to yield fresh stores of nourishment to supply the 



Prof. Ebormayer " Die physikalisclien Einwiskungen des VValdes auf Luft 

 und Boden." Aschaffenburg, 1873. 



