484 Forestry Quarterly. 



up in rows. Against animals (rodents) the only real protection 

 is the proper choice of site, the adequate preparation of the soil 

 and the hastening of germination by sowing at the right time and 

 in the most favorable manner. 



Among subsequent dangers, the most serious is a choking 

 growth of grass or weeds. On broadcasted areas especially, 

 since even the partial weeding of sowing areas is exceedingly ex- 

 pensive. Hence direct seeding of very weedy or grassy sites is 

 never attempted. Where weeding is practiced, the whole plant 

 is seldom pulled out (expense!) but merely the fruiting heads 

 of the weeds cut ofif, or, where the growth is very dense, the whole 

 mass of weeds cut down with a grass hook. 



A necessary adjunct to direct seeding is the filling of fail 

 places, this is due during the 2nd, 3rd or 4th, year after sowing; 

 the necessary plants can usually be obtained from patches that 

 are stocked too densely. Balled plants are much used for the 

 purpose. Where the growth is too dense, the less desirable 

 seedlings are pulled out by hand during the second or third year 

 after the sowing. 



Regeneration by planting is a later development than seeding. 

 The first impetus beyond that of merely completing sowing sites, 

 was given by the large, denuded areas which resisted all attempts 

 at re-seeding. In Austria, this was at the time of Maria Theresa, 

 about the middle of the i8th century. But it remained for the 

 nineteenth century to perfect the theory and practice of forest 

 planting. This deevlopment was accelerated by the strikingly 

 better results obtained by planting rather than seeding — the fail- 

 ures, patchy character and slower growth of the latter, all con- 

 tributed to boom the former; the final convincing argument w'as 

 as usual the economic one — increasing prices for wood made 

 planting profitable and haled in an era of universal planting which 

 has lasted till the present day, despite the soundness of the re- 

 actionary arguments for regeneration by natural methods. 



The use of wild stock * dates from, the earliest days of plant- 

 ing and still exists to fill fail places, as e.g. blank spaces in direct 

 seeding areas, or as material for transplant beds. Plants with 



*This includes cuttings of hardwoods (willow, aspen, etc.) which are 

 used only in willow holts, coppice forests and as a shelter for a better 

 crop. It is never used as a means of propagating high forest. 



