190 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Assuming an equal area to be planted with hardwoods, then 

 the price per acre would amount to about ;^6, 15s. because, 

 although fewer hardwood plants are required per acre, the 

 price of pitting will be more than double that of notching 

 conifers. 



Scots pine, larch, and spruce can, in ordinary seasons, be 

 safely planted from the middle of October to the end of 

 November, or from the middle of February to the middle of 

 April. Hardwoods may be planted during the whole of November, 

 or during February and March. In a comparatively mild season 

 hardwoods may also be planted in December, and even in 

 January, No kind of tree stands planting during frosty weather. 



Tending. — The first necessary attention is the cleaning of 

 weeds or rough herbage likely to smother the young plants. 

 This kind of work is best done with a hand-sickle, care being 

 taken not to injure the leaders of the plants. Weeding should 

 be done yearly until the young plants have outgrown the risk 

 of being suffocated by weeds. 



Another important matter is the filling up of blanks caused 

 by death or otherwise during the first and second years after 

 planting. Inattention to this at the proper time is the chief 

 cause of the open and uneven-aged plantations that are so 

 common in this country. 



Once the young crop is completely established, the only 

 attention it will require for a number of years is the occasional 

 cleaning out of the drains, and frequent inspection by the 

 forester to see that it is keeping free from insect pests or fungous 

 diseases. 



If the young crop is being damaged by the Pine-Weevil, steps 

 must be taken to trap the Weevil in beds of sawdust or in rough 

 bark placed at convenient centres in the plantation, and regularly 

 visited to collect and destroy the insects. 



The larvae of the Pine-Sawfly are generally found in large 

 clusters feeding on the young needles, and the damage they do 

 is easily detected by the needles of the young pine-shoots being 

 completely stripped off the branches. When Pine-Sawfly cater- 

 pillars attack a young plantation, the only remedy is for boys, 

 supplied with strong gloves, to go carefully over the young trees 

 and destroy the larv?e, wherever found, by crushing them with the 

 gloved hand. 



Thinning. — Generally speaking, pure crops of Scots pine and 



