Forest Work for the Month. 713 



consequently supplied to plants in larger quantities. By a free use 

 of sucli ashes the whole soil is rendered more friable, and the crop is 

 largely increased. The burnt earth keeps the soil open, favouring 

 the admission of air and the percolation of water ; consequently 

 roots pass into it more readily, and as the mass is reduced to its 

 saline constituents, immediate benefit to the young plants is the 

 result. Its powers of absorbing ammonia are also greatly increased. 

 While the mass is burning the air should be carefully excluded, 

 and the combustion should be stopped as soon as the clay is 

 blackened. Eed residuum is generally overburnt and useless to 

 vegetation. 



Powdered charcoal and wood ashes may also be advantageously 

 used in the nursery, as they greatly favour the sprouting of seed. 

 Eaw and fermenting manures should be avoided, as they are pro- 

 ductive of canker in the roots. 



Prepare nursery beds for the sowing of small seeds in March^ and 

 look well to the keeping of the seeds. 



If the month prove a dry one there will be great advantage in 

 hoeing among the nursery lines, particularly beds of ash. 



Where the site for planting out in the woodlands is tolerably free 

 from brambles and other rubbish, there is little gain by keeping the 

 plants too long in the nursery. In ordinary cases the sycamore, 

 maple, sweet chestnut, horse-chestnut, pinaster, larch, birch, ash, and 

 alder may go out at the end of the third year ; the oak, hawthorn, 

 spruce, beech, and walnut at the end of the fourth ; while holly and 

 silver fir may remain for five years. 



In order to ascertain the quantity of bark to be stripped during the 

 coming spring, it will be well to mark the timber early, and take 

 note of the number of trees and probable yield. 



February is the most favourable month for cutting the willow, 

 whether for the use of the basket-maker or cooper. 



The laying or plashing of plantation hedges should be proceeded 

 with as soon as the wood is off the stub. The smaller the amount of 

 dead wood laid in them the better for their future growth. A thin 

 open hedge of live layers will soon thicken sufficiently. Where the 

 hawthorn does not fiourish upon light sandy soils, fill up gaps with 

 beech. Those plants raised from seed put in the ground in March, 

 undercut the following spring, transplanted the next, and allowed to 

 remain two years in the lines, will generally be strong enough for 

 this purpose. 



February is a good time for pruning young lime trees, as these 

 make an early start. If the weather proves open the seeds of maple 

 may be planted. 



