women's labour in forestry. 83 



Lining-out 2-year seedling larch : 

 2 men + 3 women averaged 4320 plants per day (8 hrs.). 



In this case the trenching was done by the men, the girls 

 placing the plants and helping in filling in, etc., and working by 

 " breaking the line." 



Planting. 



Pit-planting in moderately heavy soil : 



Holing and planting — i woman did about 200 per day 



(7 hrs.). 

 Holing alone (from one test only) — i woman did 230 



per day. 



This work was carried out by a different squad of girls, who 

 were unused to manual work, and is not representative. 



Pit-planting — Belgian system of peat-planting : 



With circular spade — average 130 per girl per day. 



Notch-planting, with Mansfield spade on rocky ground : 

 Douglas 2-year i-year seedlings — alone i girl planted 180 

 per day. 



This was not satisfactory, owing to the difficult ground being 

 worked on, and the following method was adopted, viz. each 

 man worked with a girl, cutting the notch, while the girl placed 

 and firmed the plant. 



Average for each worker — 290 plants per day. 



Larch 2-year 2-year seedlings : 



Per couple, average ... 635 per day. 



Highest ... ... 850 ,, 



Average for i man alone... 600 ,, 



The work was typical of such as would be required for afforesta- 

 tion on many areas in Scotland, and the girls proved that they 

 could stand severe weather conditions without interruption to 

 their work. 



Besides this part of the work the girls carried on pruning — in 

 nursery lines and in young plantations — e.g. the removal of 

 double leaders and spreading growth liable to snow damage ; 

 thinning and weeding in young plantations by sawing down and 

 removing weed-growth. Actual figures for the amount done 

 are not available for comparison — in one case about four acres 

 of a 1 5-year-old larch plantation were thinned and cleared by six 



