6-t TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



same time, the soil is not only deteriorating in quality, but is con- 

 tributing nothing in the form of an annual production of wood. 

 In the middle-aged plantations it was seen that bunch-planting was 

 the method adopted when they were formed. This system is now 

 almost entirely given up, and the plants are put out singly, as in 

 our own country. 



In restocking the gi'ound by natural regeneration, care is taken, 

 at the end of the rotation, to leave a few of the best trees standing, 

 at distances ranging from twenty to twenty-five paces apart, for the 

 purpose of seeding the ground. These are known as " mother 

 trees," On the approach of a good seed-year, the surface on which 

 these trees are standing is fired, so as to rid the ground of all 

 rough herbage, and to allow the seeds to get more easily into con- 

 tact with the soil. As soon as the ground appears to be well 

 seeded, the worst of the " mother trees " are removed, while the 

 best trees are allowed to stand during a second rotation to grow 

 into heavier timber. 



In this forest, as elsewhere in Sweden, we were told that planta- 

 tions artificially formed give a greater annual increment than those 

 naturally produced. The writer thinks that this may be accounted 

 for by the fact that hand-sown or planted areas are generally more 

 equally stocked. 



Here also, the artificially raised plantations consist of a mixture 

 of Scots fir and spruce. They generally get their first thinning 

 when they have attained the age of thirty years, or when the 

 thinnings are fit for the making of charcoal. After this, they get 

 a thinning once in every ten years, about one-tenth of the stock 

 being taken out at each operation. This continues until the 

 ninetieth year, when the final felling takes place. While in 

 thorough agreement with the general principles upon which this 

 forest is managed, it was the opinion of most of the forester 

 members of the Excursion that the thinning of the young planta- 

 tions was begun too early, and that it was slightly overdone, the 

 fault, as already mentioned, arising from the demand there is for 

 this class of wood for the making of charcoal. 



The forests belonging to Osterby Bruk estate, in Dannemora, 

 were next inspected. This estate has a forest area of 62,500 

 imperial acres, the half of which has been planted, the oldest of 

 the plantations being now only forty years of age. The annual 

 production of timber from these forests is put down at one million 

 cubic feet, and the rotation at eighty years. 



