THE FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. 289 
likely be traced to this, Dull, moist weather is the most suitable 
of any, and if such weather is selected for the work, planting 
operations can successfully be carried on from early autumn to 
the end of April. 
14, Sowine. 
This method of forming plantations is subject to many of the 
objections already noted regarding natural reproduction, and can 
seldom be taken advantage of in this country. There is one case 
in which it is infinitely to be preferred to planting, namely, when 
forming plantations of oak. 
As every one knows, the oak is a distinctly tap-rooted tree, and 
when one or two years old, its roots are very destitute of fibres. 
It is therefore almost an impossibility to successfully transplant 
it. A great many will die off at once, and many of those which 
survive the operation are generally so much injured as to assume 
a stunted habit of growth, and seldom attain to full size. Instead 
of being transplanted, the oak should then be raised from the 
acorn in the spot where it is intended to grow. The ground 
may be prepared in the same way as for the reception of other 
hardwood plants, pits being made at 9 feet apart. Two or three 
acorns should be ‘“ dibbled” into each pit, allowance in this way 
being made for bad germination and other accidents. All the 
plants but one in each pit should be removed after a year or two. 
If the ground is suitable for their growth, the intervening spaces 
may be filled up with larch plants, If it is too stiff for the larch, 
Scots pine or spruce is to be preferred. In either case, two-year 
seedlings two years transplanted should be used in order to pro- 
vide sufficient shelter for the oak seedlings by the time they 
appear above ground. 
There seems little reason to doubt that the finest quality of all 
kinds of timber is to be obtained in the plantation formed directly 
by seeding, and we have only to look to the natural pine and birch 
forests in the north of Scotland, or to those of the oak in England, 
for illustrations of this fact. It is much to be regretted that the 
practice cannot more generally be adopted. 
15. MANAGEMENT FoR THE First TWELVE YEARS. 
“ What is worth doing, is worth doing well.” It very frequently 
happens, when there is a fair appearance of a crop of trees on the 
