THE FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. 107 
than heavy ones, providing sufficient moisture is present to hold 
in solution the mineral matter required by the plant. 
The amount of frost which may be expected in any situation 
must be anticipated before planting tender species, especially those 
which do not ripen their wood thoroughly. The young growths 
of larch and oak are often cut back by frost, although the latter tree 
is less likely to be permanently disfigured by the loss of a leader 
than the former, owing to its stem ultimately becoming straight 
by the way in which its annual layers of wood are deposited. 
For exposed situations those plants should be selected which 
are known to withstand strong winds with impunity, and, at 
the same time, those avoided which become crooked and stunted 
in such situations. In situations near the sea, the saline-breeze 
has to be reckoned with, which greatly reduces the list of suitable 
trees. The most suitable trees for inland exposure are the 
Austrian pine, mountain pine, Scots fir, aspen, willow, sycamore, 
mountain ash, birch, etc. All species will grow when in masses, 
but the above-named should occupy the most exposed places, 
according to the soil and situation for which they are respectively 
adapted. Spruce and silver fir stand the wind well as far as 
growth is concerned, but the former is easily overturned by gales, 
and should never be planted on the margins of plantations. A 
belt of copse-wood or bushy growing trees, such as the mountain 
pine, mountain ash, hazel, thorn, birch, ete., planted round the 
margins, would be beneficial in exposed situations by preventing 
the wind from sweeping in under the taller trees, drying the 
surface, and carrying away fallen leaves, which latter are of great 
importance in poor dry soils. 
As growing timber near the sea is almost an impossibility, 
plantations formed near it are usually only intended for shelter, 
and therefore such species should be selected as will grow best, 
independent of their timber qualities. The sea buckthorn is an 
invaluable plant for the exposed margin of such plantations, and 
if hedges or lines of it were planted two or three years before the 
other plants were put in, it would doubtless be found a great aid 
in giving them a fair start, which is the most difficult part in the 
formation of these plantations, The most suitable plants are the 
deciduous trees enumerated above, and the following conifers :— 
the Austrian, mountain, and Corsican pines, and, if slightly 
sheltered, the Scots fir. 
Although it is almost impossible to accurately predict the trees 
