98 FACTS ABOUT PLANTING ON MOORii. [Dec. 



_- f 



twice, thoroughly stirring and mixing the soil, which is now in a 

 proper condition for planting. This is performed on the slit method 

 as follows: A force of twelve men and seven boys, or a less number 

 in the same ratio, is employed, and each man has a short half-worn- 

 out garden spade, 2 ft. 4 in. long, weighing about 3 lb. The spade is 

 inserted in a slanting position, and then sufficiently lifted up with 

 one hand to allow of the roots being placed with the other hand in 

 the cavity as carefully as possible. The spade is withdrawn, and 

 the soil falls on the roots, which are thus well covered. The soil 

 is pressed firmly with the foot, whilst at the same time the plant is 

 drawn up so much that it is alDOut half an inch deeper in the 

 ground than it was in the nursery. This process tends to 

 straighten the roots, and is important. Then the soil originally 

 turned out by the plough, which is more or less rotten, is chopped 

 up and placed firmly round the stem, and the operation is com- 

 pleted. The trees are placed 4 feet apart in each row, and are 

 made to intersect each other. One boy waits on two men. Each 

 man averaged 750 plants a day throughout the job. Larch, Scotch, 

 and Corsican pine were used. The stock purchased were one-year 

 seedlings, once transplanted, and kept for one year in the home 

 nursery. 70 acres planted in 1870 were growing well in 1879, 

 and would soon require judicious thinning. The land was quite 

 dry, and it was evident that the subsoiling operations had been 

 perfectly successful. The cost, exclusive of fencing, which, on 

 account of the value of shelter to the young plants, was chiefly 

 stone walls, was as follows: Ploughing and subsoiling, 13s. 3d. per 

 acre; cultivating, Is. lid. per acre; planting, lis. lOd. per acre; 

 trees, £1, 14s. per acre — total, £3, Is. 



THINXIXG. 



Ill the 1 0th vol., 4th series of H. A. Transactions, an article by 

 Thomas Wilkie of Ardkiugloss, Camden, gives valuable details of 

 the thinnings of a plantation of 205 acres, at an altitude of 650 

 feet above sea-level, on the sides and top of a hill, somewhat conical 

 in shape, but with a flattened top. The soils were various, but 

 black peat prevails, varying from 9 inches to 2h feet. 



The Scotch fir, larch, and spruce covered the top and down the 

 sides all round to a distance of 150 yards. On the north side 

 were planted Scotch fir, larcli, spruce, and silver firs, with a few oak, 

 elm, and ash ; more of the Scotch fir, larch, elm, ash than of the 

 other plants. On the east side were the Scotch fir, larch, spruce, 

 and ash only ; on the south side, larch, oak, spruce, and silver firs ; 

 on the west, a mixture of all the above-named plants. 



