54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ABBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In addition to the above work, the under-stocking of the younger 

 woods will be taken up as suggested hereafter. The restocking 

 of the successive annual felling-areas must on no account be 

 allowed to fall into arrear. 



The filling up of vacancies in existing young plantations should 

 be undertaken at once, as an urgent work of first importance, the 

 most advanced crops being given the preference ; it can probably 

 be completed within a period of four years, at the rate of about 

 230 acres a year. Every year that the imperfectly stocked por- 

 tions of these plantations are allowed to grow on in their present 

 condition, the task of filling them up becomes more difficult. 



The planting up of the ground temporarily unstocked, though 

 also a work of urgency, must give way to the above ; and except 

 when, the whole of the existing plantations on low ground having 

 been filled up, the high ground is not in a workable condition, no 

 bare ground should be restocked until the filling up of vacancies 

 in all existing plantations has been completed. 



This having been accomplished, the 949 acres of unoccupied 



ground might be restocked in six years, that is at the rate of 



about 158 acres a year. Of the above area, about 440 acres are 



situated on high ground, and about 509 acres are on low ground. 



Weather permitting, about one-sixth part of each class of ground 



(73 acres of high and 85 acres of low) may be stocked each year. 



In carrying out this work within the time mentioned, it is 



unavoidable that large continuous stretches of land will, for some 



years, be stocked -with young trees. But the planting-area of 



each year should be distributed so as to reduce this evil to a 



minimum ; strips of unstocked ground should be left as long as 



possible between the newly stocked areas; and these should, when 



the conditions of soil and slope are suitable, be protected from 



weevils by isolating trenches, as described at p. 154 of Schlich's 



" Manual of Forestry," vol. iv. The insects should also be trapped 



and caught in the manner suggested at pp. 204 and 205 of the 



same volume. If, in spite of these precautions, serious damage 



is done by weevils, the restocking of the bare ground must be 



extended over a longer period than six years, and a more complete 



isolation of the successive pi anting- areas must be maintained. 



Vacancies occurring in new plantations must be steadily filled 

 up as they occur, so that the young crop may, as soon as possible, 

 outgrow the stage at which it is most liable to injury, and may 

 develop to the best possible advantage. 



