130 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
for poor, heathy land, which is only fit for grouse moors or 
planting. 
The same principles apply in growing spruce as in the case of 
Scots pine, and the former is usually grown on the damper portions 
which are not considered suitable for the pine. While the Scots 
pine thrives best in a fairly dry climate, the spruce prefers the 
moist atmosphere of hilly districts, where water is continually 
percolating through the soil. Few trees thrive better on damp 
sand, especially when it is mixed with or underlies a layer of peaty 
or humus-rich soil, and it also does well on a clay or chalky sub- 
soil, but dislikes dry gravels or stiff retentive soils with stagnant 
moisture. In the Harz Mountains of Hanover, large tracts of 
mountain land are devoted to the growth of spruce. Spruce forest 
is rarely raised from seed on the spot, as the slow growth of the 
seedlings renders them liable to be choked by grass and weeds; and 
they are placed at a similar disadvantage when planted as seedlings 
by the ordinary notching method, unless this is done in furrows, as 
in the case of Scots pine. On steep hill-sides or broken ground, 
however, ploughing is out of the question, and when using small 
plants the “hillock” system of planting is usually adopted, the seed- 
lings (three or more in number) being planted on small hillocks of 
soil raised above the general level of the ground. 
Few trees have a smaller spread of branches than the spruce, and 
a large number can stand upon an acre of ground without suffering 
from overcrowding. The very objectionable nature of the knots in 
this timber makes clean growth a more imperative feature than is 
the case with some species, if anything like a remunerative price is 
to be obtained, and the advantage of the natural system of thinning 
is nowhere better exemplified than with this tree. As the height- 
growth of spruce continues till an advanced age, no heavy thinnings 
should be made until the fiftieth or sixtieth year, and only then 
when soil and situation are favourable to a resulting increase in 
growth. Great care is needed, however, to prevent damage from 
gales, and large gaps should be avoided as much as possible. 
The low value of home-grown spruce is not an encouragement to 
planters to patronise it, but by growing it clean it would doubtless 
meet with a better sale. Its use in the wood-pulp manufacture 
is well known ; and where large areas of spruce woods existed, 
capitalists might be induced to erect mills in their vicinity, and no 
better way of utilising large tracts of poor, peaty land could be 
imagined. Without Government aid, however, it is doubtful if 
