THE REARING OF UNDERWOOD FOR GAME COVERTS. 371 



XX. Report upon the. rearing of Underwood for Game Coverts in 

 High Forest. By Thomas Wilkie, Forester, Tjningliaiiie, 

 East Lothian. 



"With few exceptions, shrubs will not grow under fir trees, and 

 none will luxuriate under a dense crop of timber trees whatever 

 the variety ; hence, if a game covert is desired, the trees should 

 be thinned out to about 30 or more feet apart — that is, if the 

 tops are heavily clothed with foliage, but if they are not, the 

 trees may stand at 24 feet apart, and a very good covert be 

 formed beneath them. 



In a plantation of about fifty years of age, where the crop con- 

 sisted of ash, oak, and sycamore, averaging about 45 feet in height, 

 with fairly well-furnished tops, and growing at 15 to 20 feet apart, 

 I have formed a covert with very fair success. I was not per- 

 mitted to thin out any of the trees, but had a few of their lower 

 branches shortened. It was next the outside of a plantation, and 

 on the inside an avenue 28 feet in width ran round the interior of 

 the plantation, the distance from this avenue to the outside of the 

 plantation and covert being about 50 yards. I had the refuse 

 carefully burned, and the ground enclosed with 4:-feet galvanised 

 wire-netting of 1^-inch mesh, which was sunk about 9 inches deep 

 into the drifted sand of which the soil was composed, and then 

 planted the enclosure with evergreen pi'ivet, red and white flower- 

 ing Ribes, barberry, common laurel, hazel, rhododendrons, Cotone- 

 aster SimonsH, and a few silver firs. The first five varieties named 

 were from 18 to 24 inches in lieight, the others 2^ to 4 feet, 

 except the silver firs, which were about 9 inches. The plants 

 were all set in pits 12 to 24 inches in diameter, and planted in 

 patches where the largest openings were above them with, con- 

 necting links between each clump. The most of the laurels have 

 died down to the ground, but are coming away nicely again from 

 the root-stock. Notwithstanding that the netting stands 3 feet 

 3 inches above the ground, the rabbits have gained access to the 

 enclosure and done considerable damage to the plants. The mole 

 has uprooted many of the silver firs, and a caterpillar of the 

 " looper " kind has damaged the rhododendrons; but still, though 

 this is only the second year since they were jjlanted, they promise 

 to make an excellent cover, and are already a tolerably good one. 



Two other coverts have been planted as experiments, and, being 



