THE FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. 135 
proportions above ground they would be badly shaken and blasted 
by the prevailing winds. 
It may be argued that if a large plant requires more food than 
a small one, its roots are farther spread, which gives it more 
power to find its food. This may be quite true, but it is also very 
apparent that any single spongiole of a small plant has a more 
feeble capacity for absorbing food than that of a bigger one, and 
can be fully supplied in comparatively poor soil. It is therefore 
a safe rule to use in such situations plants of small size; and 
although the fact must not be overlooked that very small plants 
are easily choked by herbage, yet when not entirely overtopped 
by it during the summer, it is more beneficial to them than other- 
wise, as it provides them with good shelter from the storms 
of winter. It is, however, very seldom that the natural herbage 
in exposed situations attains a very luxuriant growth. 
In sheltered hollows, or on sunny exposures, even on high- 
lying ground, hardwoods may thrive well, but as a rule a mixture 
of larch and Scots fir are the trees best adapted for forming large 
plantations in exposed places, and this for two reasons: first, 
it is a point of great importance to make an exposed plantation as 
dense as possible, without overcrowding, to prevent the wind from 
blowing through it, and Scots fir, from its hardy nature and dense 
foliage, is invaluable for this purpose; and, second, it seems to 
be getting every day more difficult to grow healthy larch, so much 
so, that on all light dry soils at suitable altitudes the experiment is 
worth trying. When this valuable tree is planted in due propor- 
tions over large areas, the parts containing healthy trees can be 
preserved at the time of thinning, while the diseased portions can 
be cut out and the native pine left to form the crop. Of course, 
as the ground rises and the air gets colder, a larger percentage 
of Scots fir should be put in, and when extremely high ground is 
reached it should form the entire crop. Scots fir grows vigorously 
in cool soils and at high altitudes where larch would most 
certainly perish. On these high places it is imperative to plant 
thickly, and thickest on the most exposed side. (By thick plant- 
ing, 3 feet apart or less is meant, and moderately thick is from 35 
to 4 feet.) | Where the ground has been previously drained, care 
must be taken to plant close up to the brink of the drains, 
to prevent the wind sweeping along their course, and retarding 
the growth, as well as possibly injuring the young trees before 
their branches closed up an extra wide space, 
