98 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



conifers or hardwoods, as the case may be. When in doubt as 

 to the hardiness of a species, rather choose the next hardier 

 species, though of less value, than run risks of failure. 



*'The provision of suitable shelter is a most important factor 

 in the life of a plantation, especially in the earlier period of its 

 existence. Still, in spite of this, one may frequently note cases 

 where plantations have been formed and no provision made for 

 their protection, in the shape of shelter-belts. In this country, 

 although woods run more risk from wind than those on the 

 Continent, we find much less attention is paid to the provision of 

 wind-breaks and shelter-margins. The new plantations which 

 must be formed to replace the old woods now being felled will, 

 of a certainty, have less shelter than those formed before this 

 unprecedented clearance of wide areas. This consideration 

 would seem to justify the anticipation that we will have to pay 

 more attention to the provision of shelter for those new 

 plantations. Having formed our new plantations we must 

 consider their protection from other dangers such as rabbits, 

 squirrels, game of kinds, fungus and insect pests. 



" It is to be feared that the general cutting of large areas 

 which is proceeding at present will result in an epidemic of insect 

 pests, and it does not require a soothsayer to predict that the 

 pine weevil, and possibly the pine beetle, will not be the least 

 harmful of these. Fortunately it is not beyond the power of 

 man to cope successfully with such pests, provided scientific 

 methods are employed, and, what is of equal importance, that 

 these methods are systematically applied not only in individual 

 cases, but collectively over a wide area. 



" The same precautionary and exterminative measures are 

 applicable in the case of fungi. The squirrel pest must be met 

 in the same way. Game of kinds and rabbits must also fall 

 into the category of forest enemies. Game, if kept within 

 reasonable limits, need not offer any serious menace to the well- 

 being of the forest, but rabbits must be regarded as forest 

 vermin. They have been permitted to overrun our woodlands 

 in the past, much to their injury, undoubtedly more than most 

 people realise or care to estimate. In addition to this direct 

 injury, rabbits have been responsible for an enormous and 

 otherwise unnecessary expenditure in the formation of planta- 

 tions, by necessitating costly fencing and netting. I need not 

 enlarge upon this subject, but I leave it to members to suggest 



