118 EDITOR'S BOX. . [Dec, 



PLANTING FOREST TREES. 



Sir, — In p. 67 of your last issue, Mr. D. Scott says : ' On all soils 

 with a grassy surface the turf should be pared off before the plant is 

 inserted.' Extensive j)lanting is carried on, let us suppose, on the 

 same description of soils and situations, but on two different estates. 

 On the one, when the planters pass through heather and come to grass, 

 the first thing they are supposed to do is to pare off the turf where each 

 plant is to be inserted before making the notch for it, thereby taking 

 as much time to plant ten in the grass, especially if the soil is rough 

 and stony, as it took them to plant 100 in the heather. In the 

 adjoining estate the plants are also planted at an average distance of 

 3 ft. apart, but when they came to grassy lands, in place of paring, 

 they plant into irregular rows ol ft. apart, and 2i ft. between each 

 plant, so as to make it easier to trace out the plants in the grass, 

 thereby planting in a given time, both in heather and grass, the same 

 number of plants. When summer comes, and the plants are getting 

 choked up with grass, they get people who will be very glad to clear 

 the plants for notliing if they but get the grass. Query : "Which of 

 the two ways is the best and most profitable ? 



Mr. Scott further says : ' In all extensive enclosures, spaces for 

 main roads should be marked off and left implanted, and when the 

 weather is unfavourable for planting, the hands employed might with 

 advantage be occupied in forming these roadways.' 



Extensive plantations are in progress in two different estates, in 

 good hill pasture. In the one, roads are pegged off five to six yards 

 broad, previous to being planted, causing a loss to the plantation of 

 about two acres per mile of road ; and when the weather is unfavour- 

 able for planting, the hands are employed at the making of these 

 roads, at a cost of, say, £200 per mile, or £100 per acre. In the 

 adjoining property they never think of roads, but plant straight on, 

 and in order to employ the planting hands in weather unsuitable for 

 planting, they are employed in the cutting of drains in some sheltered 

 place. When the young trees grow up to from one to three feet high 

 they then tell best where the worst soil is, and here, where all other 

 considerations are equal, the road is pegged off, and the plants 

 growing along the site of the road, that have been so well acclima- 

 tized, are lifted with small balls of earth and planted where necessary, 

 at the rate of about £2 per one thousand, and the road thus 

 cleared is at once a shooting path, and is only constructed into a road 

 for timber-carting purposes, say, 20 years after the plantation was 

 planted, thereby effecting a saving of the compound interest on ^£200 

 for 20 years, which might amount to another £200. Query : Which 

 of the two ways would be the best and most economical ? 



LOAXLEAH. 



