84 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



with promising groups, is almost invariably omitted. This omission 

 is equally obvious in the case of compartments that are heavily planted 

 over. 



Forestry in Loiver Burma. Indian Forester, May, 1918, pp. 212—217. 



The following notes refer to the use of nurse 



Nurse Trees trees in young plantations of hardwoods, chiefly 



in beech and oak. They are based on the experi- 



Plantations ence of annual plantings for the last eleven 



years — a period which covers the whole existence 



of the bulk of the nurse trees. 



The chief points of a good nurse tree are: (i) Hardiness against 

 spring frost; (2) rapidity of growth when young; (3) light foliage 

 and upright habit; (4) ability to stand pruning; (5) value as early 

 thinnings. 



The trees employed in this case have been European and Japanese 

 larch. Of these, the European larch has proved superior in hardiness 

 against spring frost, in lightness of foliage, and habit of growth. Both 

 larches have grown rapidly ; the European larch has made the more 

 rapid growth in height, and the Japanese has given the larger bulk of 

 small pit-wood at the age of nine to eleven years. The Japanese larch 

 has the disadvantage of throwing out strong side branches, but it stands 

 pruning well. 



The planting distance is 3 feet. Of the 4,840 plants to the acre, 

 approximately 2,500 are beech, 2-1 year; 1,500 oak, i-i year, and 800 

 larch, 2-1 year. Every third row consists of larch and beech alter- 

 nately ; the other rows consist of beech and oak alternately ; so that the 

 larch nurses stand 6 feet apart in the rows and the rows of larch and 

 beech are 9 feet apart. 



For the first three or four years after planting, the nurse trees have 

 very little influence on the growth of the crop. There is ample space 

 for all, and if after the second year the larch begins to take the lead, it 

 is only as isolated individuals. From the fourth or fifth year the larch 

 takes much more than its share of the growing space. It may be said 

 that as soon as the nurse trees begin to do good to some of the young 

 oaks by their shelter they also begin to injure others by their side 

 shade. From the fifth year until the last of the larch are cut out, the 

 plantation requires close attention and care, directed to obtaining the 

 maximum benefit from shelter and the minimum injury from side 

 shade. 



