72 TKAXSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



indeed beginning to encroach upon the oak crowns. The more 

 aggressive of them will at once be taken out, and the whole of 

 the conifers will soon be felled. Small-sized timber of this kind 

 finds a ready market in the neighbouring pulp factories. Im- 

 mediately upon the present underwood being cleared, a second 

 and similar one will be introduced, which will be felled with the 

 oak when the latter has reached the end of its rotation of one 

 hundred and twenty years. In some cases there are three 

 rotations of the shade-bearer to one of the oak. Beech has been 

 tried, but, owing to the treatment it has received, rather than 

 its unsuitability to the situation, it has not succeeded veiy well. 

 The silver fir has grown better than the spruce, and ought to be 

 chosen before it in future underplantings. As is well known, 

 the spruce, with its shallow root-system spreading through the 

 upper soil, deprives the deeper roots of the oak of the moisture 

 and nutriment the tree demands. Spruce cannot be said to be 

 a good species for the underplanting of oak, and one was sur- 

 prised to see it thus used in otherwise fairly well-regulated 

 woods. Some young mixed woods of spruce and silver lir were 

 looking well ; a middle-aged wood of Scots pine had been re- 

 cently treated with an underwood of spruce, Scots pine was 

 seen planted at distances apart in the rows of 3 feet, the rows 

 being 6 feet apart, and the intervening space being filled in with 

 spruce. " Patch planting " with prepared jjits is resorted to, the 

 soil always receiving some sort of cultivation at the time of 

 planting. A wood of mature Scots pine, which had apparently 

 been grown pure, was admired on account of the clean-grown 

 stems. The trees were one hundred years old and 88 feet high. 

 Oak and larch in mixture together were also seen. As with the 

 pure oak, they had been underplanted. Caterpillars of the oak- 

 leaf -roller moth (Torlrix viridana) were seriously afiecting the 

 oak ; but next year, being the third year of the insect's presence, 

 is expected to bring the attack to an end. 



The prices obtained for timber in this locality would be 

 considered very low in Britain. Oak ranges from 7d. to 9d. per 

 cubic foot; spruce, silver lir, and Scots pine are classed together, 

 and fetch from 3d. to 5d. per foot. Birch for firewood brings in 

 l|d. to 2d. by English measurement. The prices are those ''in 

 the forest," the buyer having to remove the timber at his own 

 expense. 



Before leaving Visingso, the members visited Brahe Church, 



