154 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
This form of mixed wood is established in three different ways, 
according to the circumstances of the case. If both oaks and 
beeches are present at the end of the rotation, so-called “seed- 
fellings” are undertaken, and the regeneration takes place by 
means of self-sown seed. A few firs scattered up and down the 
wood will furnish a sufficient number of seedlings of this species, 
or, otherwise, young plants are brought from the nursery. During 
the period of regeneration, great care must be taken to protect the 
young oaks from being crowded out by the more vigorously- 
growing beeches and firs. 
The second method of regenerating such a mixed wood occurs 
where oaks are very scarce at the end of a rotation, the bulk of 
the trees consisting of beeches and Scots firs. In such a case the 
wood is strongly thinned, and the oaks are introduced in rows or 
bands by means of acorns or two-year-old plants. The rest of the 
stocking is secured by the self-sown seed of the beeches and 
Scots firs. If, on the other hand, seed beeches are scarce, this 
species is also introduced by means of artificially sown seed. 
The third case occurs where it is found that an area is so 
irregular in character that only certain small circumscribed 
portions are suitable for the growth of the oak. When this is the 
case, small patches--say 40 yards in diameter—of the old wood 
are cleared, and these are stocked, artificially or naturally, with 
oaks. After seven or eight years the adjoining portion is 
naturally regenerated by means of seed-fellings in the usual 
way. 
2. Scots Firs, with Oak and Beech as a Mixture.—This sylvi- 
cultural system is practised on land which is only indifferently 
suited to the growth of oaks, as, for instance, where good strong 
soil is overlaid by five or six feet of light sand. The length of the 
rotation is here 120 years, at the end of which time 70 to 90 per 
cent. of the trees should be firs, and 10 to 30 per cent. oaks, the 
crowns of the beeches being all at a lower level, so that these 
trees are chiefly fulfilling the functions of a soil-protection wood. 
At the end of the rotation, a small number of the best-formed 
oaks and firs may be retained as standards to grow for some 
years longer. 
In regenerating this form of wood, small areas, round or oblong, 
are cleared in the wood, and these are stocked with oaks and 
beeches, which are usually introduced as seed. When the trees 
on these regenerated patches have attained the age of ten to 
fifteen years, the adjoining wood is renewed by seed-fellings. 
3. Pure Scots Fir Woods.—These are chiefly confined to the tracts 
of pure sand, the rotation extending to 120 years. Regeneration 
takes place by clear-felling narrow bands of the old trees 60 to 
80 yards broad. The clearing begins on the east side of the 
