ON NURSE TREES IN YOUNG PLANTATIONS. 1 79 



rotation for the production of pit-wood. Spruce grows very 

 rapidly, but it is not at all wind-firm ; after all it is essentially a 

 tree of the mountains, and its shallow root-system, admirably 

 adapted for anchoring the tree in stony soil, is unsuitable for 

 the local conditions. Douglas fir is very apt to be blown 

 down between the thirtieth and fortieth year, perhaps on account 

 of the inability of its roots to penetrate the heavy subsoil which 

 suits the oak well. Sitka spruce seems to be more wind-firm 

 than Douglas fir, but the average rainfall is probably less than 

 that required for its best development. 



And perhaps where hardwoods can be grown to perfection, 

 it is not necessary to look elsewhere for a permanent crop. At 

 the same time, the slow process of establishing the long rotation 

 necessary for oak affords ample opportunity of experimenting 

 with short rotations of conifers on areas which cannot be brought 

 under hardwoods during the first period of the working-plan. 



An incidental advantage of Professor Fisher's system of plant- 

 ing is that it is flexible ; ash or sycamore can be substituted 

 for oak in certain places. Few plantations of any extent have 

 uniform conditions as to depth of soil and amount of soil 

 moisture. If in some places where oak has been planted it is 

 found to be backward in growth about the eighth or ninth year, 

 it is still possible to exercise control over the nature of the crop 

 in these patches, which, in the plantations described, will never 

 be large. Even if the oak should be entirely suppressed, as 

 it may be where the conditions do not suit it, there will be 

 plenty of beech to make a patch of pure beech, or in places 

 where the larch is growing really well, of beech with a few 

 larch. But perhaps the most common result will be a patch 

 with a few oaks and a larger proportion of beech than usual 

 or generally desirable. 



These plantations will provide many interesting problems 

 for the skill of the forester, and perhaps none of them is more 

 interesting and more important than the management of the 

 nurse trees. 



