240 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
annual rings, such as are produced in dense woods. As a 
general rule, the system of clean-felling and restocking with 
nursery plants will be followed; but direct sowing has been 
suggested in the case of Ballfield, on account of the shallow 
and rocky nature of the soil. 
It is desirable to restock the ground immediately after the 
removal of the old crops, when it will be clear of weeds; and, 
in addition to this advantage, the exposure of the soil for an 
unnecessarily long time will be avoided, there will be no loss 
of yield through the ground lying fallow, and the stock will have 
the fullest opportunity of growing to the required size within the 
period of the rotation. Against attack by beetles, especially 
Hylobius abietis and Pissodes notatus (Pine Weevils), the pre- 
caution has been taken to separate fellings on contiguous areas 
by intervals of time, amounting to not less than four years; but 
where beetles appear, measures must be taken against them, 
such as extracting the stumps, which may be sold as firewood, 
or covering the stumps with earth immediately after felling, 
and trapping and collecting the insects. In this connection, 
as well as to save time and allow the new crop to grow up 
even-aged, it will be a matter of great importance to fill up 
vacancies promptly, so as to get the whole of the young crop 
as quickly as possible over the stage at which it is particularly 
liable to injury. If, in spite of the above measures, the attacks 
in the young plantations are found to be very severe, the ground 
may be burnt over immediately after felling, and a field crop 
raised before it is restocked. This usually has the effect of 
destroying or driving away the insects. 
Spruce plants will be put out 4 feet apart (2700 plants to 
the acre); while, in the case of Scots fir, the planting distance 
may be 34 feet, or about 3550 plants to the acre. Where larch 
is introduced, it will be planted at intervals of about 25 feet, so 
as to give about 70 larch trees to the acre; and where this is 
done, the number of spruce or Scots fir, as the case may be, 
will of course be correspondingly reduced. The Japanese species 
of larch should be tried, though it has already been attacked 
by disease in some parts of Great Britain. Plants of all 
three species should have well-developed roots. The ordinary 
method of “notching” in the plants is applied with difficulty 
in some parts of the estate where the sod is very thick, and 
plants put in thus are often too deeply buried. Experiments 
