212 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



plantations at 3 feet by 3 feet seem on the whole preferable, for 

 they form canopy sooner. As at the same time thinnings will 

 prove remunerative earlier, this tends to ultimately equalise the 

 cost of young plantations formed at 3 feet and at 4 feet by the time 

 they reach twelve or fifteen years of age ; while there can be no 

 question about the closer planting being much more likely to yield 

 a cleaner and taller class of poles, free from knots and snags affect- 

 ing the quality of the timber. 



New Afforestation in 1899-1900. — As regards the area it is 

 intended to bring under forest this year, I would suggest, in 

 place of planting, the experimental sowing of larch and Corsican 

 pine in ploughed lines 3 feet apart — running parallel, horizontally, 

 and not down the hill-side — next spring, in such manner that 

 three lines of larch should alternate with one line of Corsican 

 pine. As broadcast sowing of larch over the whole area requires 

 about 14 or 15 pounds an acre, the amount of seed required for 

 strip-sowing in furrows in this way should not exceed about 7 to 8 

 pounds per acre, while about 3 to 4 pounds of seed per acre should 

 suffice for the Corsican pine. 



Though requiring some weeding, this method of raising a young 

 crop should be considerably cheaper than planting, while it will 

 have the additional advantage of securing a thicker crop. Oak, 

 ash, sycamore, maple, and Douglas fir can also, whenever con- 

 venient during the next two or three years, be planted out among 

 the larch and pine in such places and to such extent as may then 

 seem desirable, only the better portions of the soil being thus 

 utilised, while blanks in the poorer parts can be filled up with 

 Corsican pine. 



Wind-mantles. — Many of the woods and plantations, and 

 especially the smaller ones, are somewhat exposed to the action 

 of wind along their south-western edges. In all such cases it 

 seems advisable to plant two or three rows of spruce or Corsican 

 pine closely together along the exposed edges, and to allow them 

 to retain their foliage down to the ground, so as to form an 

 efficient wind-mantle. 



Forecast of the Conditions of the Crop in 1928-1929. — In the 

 copses the underwood should be of normal density, and consisting 

 to a large extent of hardwoods and other species, according to the 

 local variations of soil and situation ; while from the overwood 

 the majority of the old branching trees will have been removed 

 and their places taken by standards of better growth, more regu- 



