THE FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. ite 
and spruce are the most suitable for this purpose, the former being 
the most valuable in sheltered situations, the latter in exposed 
ones, owing to its rigid and erect growth. 
Laying off the Ground. 
The usual method adopted in planting a space of land is that of 
performing the whole of the work in one, two, or three seasons, 
according to the extent of the ground, state of the weather, and 
the number of hands employed, and with small plantations this 
is probably the best plan. But when several hundred acres are 
to be planted, a proper working plan should be drawn up and 
adhered to as far as possible. Instead of planting the whole of 
the ground in the shortest time possible, it should be divided into 
divisions or blocks of such sizes as to be conveniently planted, 
thinned, and cut in one season respectively. This system has 
many advantages, as, for instance, allowing the forester ample 
time for performing the above-named operations, giving more 
steady employment to workmen, and preventing a large quantity 
of mature timber standing in the plantation at a time when the 
demand for such may be limited, thereby obliging the proprietor 
either to sell under value or allow the trees to stand after reaching 
their maximum annual increment, which would result in a reduc- 
tion of the returns that might otherwise be realised in a given 
period. 
Take, for example, a plantation of a thousand acres, containing 
various examples of soil, and at different altitudes. To plant 
such an area in four or five years would necessitate the employ- 
ment of a large staff of men, probably larger than the ordinary 
staff constantly kept by the forester. Unless a number of extra 
hands were specially engaged for the work, this would cause much 
of the ordinary winter work to be thrown back or neglected 
altogether, which would seriously interfere with the plans and 
arrangements regarding the other woods on the estate. But if 
the ground were laid off into squares or blocks of say 10 acres 
each, so many of these blocks might be planted annually without 
interfering seriously with other work on the estate. Assuming 
one hundred years to be the period required for bringing the crop 
to maturity, one block planted annually would provide for a 
similar area annually becoming ready for the axe after the first 
century had expired, and during the course of the second and 
