Plantations and Home JVurseries Competition, 1914. 185 



are still fair, being mostly mossy and humus covered, but grass 

 is appearing in places, and with an almost total absence of 

 shade bearing trees, this condition may, unfortunately, become 

 general all over the wood, unless an undercrop of a shade 

 bearing species is established. A few beech on the ride sides 

 were doing good in that the surface for some distance round 

 was being shaded and the ground covei-ed with their leaves. 

 A small percentage of beech throughout the wood would have 

 been a very great benefit to the plantation, and its future 

 development more or less assured. At its present stage, how- 

 ever, this cannot be considered anything but a very excellent 

 wood and, with other plantations on this estate, provides a good 

 example of what may be accomplished on a poor soil at a high 

 elevation. 



In connection with some observations on the above wood, it 

 may be worth noting that in the case of a considerable number 

 of the plantations visited on different estates, the crop was 

 comprised of pui'e light demanding species, some of pure larch. 

 In every case where the crop had reached a certain stage of its 

 development, grass was coming in, and in some cases it was 

 only too evident that the days of best growth were already over, 

 and the difficulty was to fiiid means of restoring the crop to a 

 healthy state. It was pointed out that underplanting with a 

 shade bearing ti-ee, such as Douglas fir, which does well in the 

 district, would secure the object in view, but almost invariably 

 this would mean enclosing the area with netting for a second 

 time against vermin, such as rabbits, and as this entails a 

 considerable amount of expense, it could not be entertained. 

 The obvious remedy is to exterminate the rabbits. Where 

 rabbits cannot be exterminated, it would seem prudent to 

 introduce a certain percentage of beech or other shade 

 enduring trees, when the land is planted. In groups or strips, 

 there is not the danger of the soil improving species, if of slow 

 growth, becoming suppressed or of becoming too aggressive if 

 of rapid growth. 



There was only one entry in CLASS V., HARDWOODS AS 

 Final Crop, not less than 2 acres in extent, restricted to 

 estates having less than 300 acres of woodlands, the stage being 

 that up to the first thinning. 



The plantation, namely "Cefn-ant," is on a loamy soil with 

 clay subsoil, situated on a steep slope, with a south-eastern 

 aspect. It is on the Glansevern Estate, in Montgomeryshire, 

 and is the property of Mr. A. Humphries-Owen. It is 20 years 

 old, and the crop is of pure ash and the plantation was formed 

 after a previous crop of oak, ash and beech. The plants used 

 were l-year-2-years, set out at 4 ft. apart, and the method of 

 planting was to prepare the holes with a mattock, and insert 



