58 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
whether bought or home grown, is not worth the trouble of 
planting. 
MANAGEMENT. 
For the first two or three years after planting it may be 
necessary to clear the young plants a little, because after the 
thinning and pruning there is sure to be a much thicker growth 
of grass, bracken, briers, nettles, or other rubbish, which would 
be apt to choke the young plants, or at least retard their 
growth. 
Undergrowth for game cover should never be allowed to get too 
tall and lanky. As soon, therefore, as the tops begin to run up, it 
is advisable to go round and switch them off about 3 to 4 feet high; 
this encourages a thick bottom-growth, and saves the standard 
evergreens from being lashed and weakened. It also gives the 
beaters a better chance of working the game out, while the guns 
have more uniform sport, because the birds rise gradually, instead 
of all running forward under a mass of top-growth, and rising in 
flocks at the heading corner. 
In regard to switching the underwood, it would be advisable to 
divide it into sections, and do a part every year, each section being 
gone through about once in four or five years, according to growth, 
etc. It is best to do the switching in winter, and especially during 
hard weather, because the branches and young shoots thus cut off 
take up the attention of the rabbits, and help to keep them from 
gnawing the roots and stems of the trees and plants. Covers so 
treated, if started on while young, may be kept in good condition 
for many years. 
If there are any young plantations, or portions of plantations, on 
the estate composed chiefly of spruce, say from six to twelve years 
old, they can be converted into splendid covers in the following 
manner :—The best trees should be picked out and left standing 
from 8 to 10 yards apart for standards. The leaders should then 
be cut out of all the intermediate plants, about 3 feet above 
the ground, and the rubbish trampled down underneath. The 
standards will then have plenty of room to develop, and will form 
nice specimen trees. They will also help to retain the unbroken 
appearance of the plantation when viewed from a distance. The 
topping should be done while the plants are still clothed to the 
bottom with fresh green branches. The plants so treated will 
throw up several leaders, and an oceasional switching is all that 
