326 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



plants, and especially on hilly ground. I have never taken the 

 trouble to test the actual saving, but say, for the sake of argument, 

 you are going to plant 4 feet x 4 feet. If you lined off your ground 

 mathematically by base measurement, 4 feet x 4 feet, you would 

 require 2722 plants per acre. If you line in a rough and i^eady 

 way, which is all that is practically required, you will probably 

 find that you will use about 6 per cent, more plants, or, say, 2884 

 to the acre. 



If, on the other hand, you do not line, but tell your men to 

 plant 4 feet x 4 feet by guess work, you will, I expect, find that 

 when you have finished you have used about 15 per cent, more 

 than the base measurement quantity. Then, if it is found neces- 

 sary to run over your ground and cut down the rank growth of 

 grass, bracken, or scrub, you will find a very considerable saving 

 where you have lines to work on. A man starts on his line, and 

 every 4 feet there should be a plant — if not there is a vacancy — 

 and he need not trouble to clear the ground. Again, in filling 

 vacancies, the same advantage occurs, and no time is lost in 

 looking for them. Many other advantages could, if necessaxy, be 

 named. J. Arthur Campbell, 



Ardnaine, Lochgilphead. 



The Growing of Douglas Fir. 



British planters should keep in view the important claims of the 

 Douglas fir. It is perhaps chief of the few exotic Goniferce that 

 may be planted extensively in this country for the production of 

 good class timber. It grows well in most soils of open texture, 

 which, though poor, gravelly, or even moorish, are not wet ; and 

 it succeeds at high altitudes, as well as in glens and on hill-sides, 

 but is no sea-side tree, nor does it succeed in a smoky atmosphere. 

 The Douglas fir is a first-rate tree for filling up gaps in old woods 

 of any kind. It stands shade and drip well, it is practically free 

 from insect attack, and it makes excellent perennial cover. 



Hitherto this tree has, as a rule, been planted too thinly on the 

 ground. From four to six feet from plant to plant is a good 

 distance, and for sylvicultural purposes this ought not to be 

 exceeded. In forming a new plantation, let it be pure, as, under 

 ordinary conditions, no other tree can keep pace in growth with 

 the Douglas. 



The Colorado variety of Douglas fir is a more stubby plant than 



