438 EDITORS BOX. [Apbil, 



to, . . . and what was the result ? It is that ... a large proportion 

 of the plants are dead ; some do exist, and barely so.' 



Perhaps it may not be deemed bigoted to insinuate that, in such a 

 case, wherein the result is so disastrous, might not the plants used to 

 begin with have been too weak and small to cope efficiently against a 

 strong growth of grassy vegetation ? or, if stronger and larger plants 

 had been used, might not the result have been different ? 



I can agree with Mr. Scott about the clearing of the moss from 

 the spot where the tree is to be planted, if by that he means the 

 green and quick moss of the disc, which moss is often found very 

 troublesome to planters. But immediately beneath the surface-moss 

 another kind of moss is sometimes found, which is not much superior 

 to the outer moss, and at best can only be termed a sort of crude, or 

 green peat, or peat in the initial stage of carbonization. Wherever 

 such moss is, I have found it most difficult to induce trees to grow ; 

 in fact, no very small tree will grow therein. 



In what further I have to say, past experience compels me to take 

 the side of ' Bannockburn ' on the negative side of this question, 

 although I do not do so exactly for the same reasons as he. 



What I assert is, that it is quite unnecessary to remove the grassy 

 turf before planting the tree-plant ; and that I have proved to be so 

 by experiment and the sequent simple line of procedure. A few 

 years ago I was x^lanting a large area of very grassy land, and^having 

 had full freedom to experiment, and at the same time being eager to 

 inform myself as to the best and cheapest mode of planting such 

 land, I made the succeeding confined but sufficient test. After 

 having measured off three equal portions of ground, equally inclined 

 to produce exuberance of grass, this ground was subsequently 

 planted in the following manner : — 



{a) One portion (planted) with choice two-years' seedling, one- 

 year transplanted Scotch Fir, and one-year transplanted Larch, mixed 

 with Austrian and Corsican Pines of equivalent size ; and these 

 trees were, after being planted, left to struggle away as they best 

 could among an abundant growth of grass. At the end of the year, on 

 investigation it was disclosed that something like two-fifths of the 

 plants had succumbed through being strangled and choked by weedy 

 overgrowth, mostly grass ; but the death-rate was not evenly dis- 

 tributed — that is, upon open and free soil deaths were less frequent 

 than upon stiff and tenacious soil. In the one instanc e the sole 

 deterrent to the existence of the tree was the weedy herbage ; in the 

 other there was, besides the weedy herbage, something in the soil 

 repellent and insalubrious to the constitution of the tree, which, 

 together with the strong surface-growth, hastened to destroy the 

 vegetal vitality of the tree. 



