574 -ihe journal of Forestry . 



square perch. In falling bircli underwood, where the stools are get- 

 ting old and scattered, leave a few of the most vigorous poles as 

 stores ; these, by shedding their seed, will help to fill up vacancies. 



-Now is the best time to fall elm, poplar, lime, and plane or syca- 

 more. In out-of-the-way places where permission to bark a few of 

 these trees standing has been obtained in April, they may be fallen 

 this month, and immediately converted and used ; and if the bark 

 has not been stripped off quite close to the ground the stool may still 

 retain its vitality. The lime and plane, when required for the manu- 

 facture of white wood articles, should be sawn up and stored in a dry 

 airy situation at once. Poplar stripped the spring before falling is 

 useful in situations of exposure, as its shrinkage is small. 



Though the conversion of timber is not usually one of the forester's 

 avocations, yet his experience of its durability as paling, when it is cleft 

 in the direction of its medullary rays, will enable him to give sound 

 advice to those employed in the saw-lodge. Undoubtedly the best 

 mode of sawing up a tree is first to quarter it, and afterwards cut out 

 the boards so that their surface shall be parallel to the laminte of the 

 silver grain of the wood, which thus become coated with hard plates 

 in the line of the medullary rays. 



Dig or otherwise clean neglected hedgerows. In planting new 

 hedges select three years' plants which have been two years trans- 

 planted, and cut off at three or four inches from the ground. Place them 

 in a double line, giving them a triangular position at distances of eight 

 or nine inches. Where the soil is tolerably light and porous, plant 

 on the level, and work in an admixture of good loam and road 

 scrapings. The addition of a little lime or superphosphate will also 

 be highly beneficial. As the hawthorn requires a moderately dry soil 

 in wet situations it should either be placed upon a mound, or have a 

 covered drain or open ditch near it. It does not flourish upon very 

 light, sandy, gravelly, or mossy soils, unless it is put in with a strong- 

 admixture of clay. Here it will also be advantageous to mix it witli 

 beech in the proportion of two or three of the latter to one of the 

 former. These, however, must not be cut over like the quicksets at 

 the time of planting. 



Trim back all hedges which have been planted two years, allowing 

 several inches of new growth to remain. If the fence is to be kept in 

 a flourishing condition it should be narrowest at the top, and be quite 

 free from weeds, so as to permit a free circulation of air around its base. 

 Where the plantation hedges adjoin arable land, all cutting back 

 beyond the ordinary trimming should be done when the fields are 

 under corn crops. 



Under dense shade, where hawthorn will not grow, and even beech 

 would languish, plant holly, and give it a liberal allowance of good 



