180 FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 
inches high, would be a suitable size. In a sheltered situation, and 
soil consisting of a sandy loam, most of our forest trees would suc- 
ceed ; and as, under such conditions, many of the hardwoods would 
be in their element, it would not be advisable to plant them nearer 
than 12 or 15 feet, mixing them with larch, Scots fir, spruce, laricio, 
and silver fir. On moderate elevations, if the soil is light, open, and 
porous, larch may be very freely planted, mixing with Scots fir and 
hardwoods—birch, plane-tree, and even oak. Here the hardwoods 
may be 2 feet and upwards in height, and planted at 10 feet apart. 
Scots fir two-year seedlings, two-year transplants, and larch two-year 
seedlings and one-year transplants, may be planted at 4 feet apart. 
On high elevations, which are consequently much exposed, very 
small plants should be used. The hardwoods should not exceed a 
foot in height, and may be planted at 9 feet apart. Here, as shelter 
is the first object to be gained, the conifers may be planted 3 feet 
apart—using one-year seedlings and one-year transplants of larch, and 
two-year seedlings and one-year transplants of Scots fir. To ensure 
success, all the plants used should be well-rooted, free from aphis and 
other insects, and disease of every kind. They should have one dis- 
tinct leader, proportionate branches, and (in season) a fair amount of 
foliage. Plants that are long and slender, of a yellowish green colour, 
and having a sickly, forced-like appearance, should be rejected. 
Management of a young Plantation for the first twelve years.— 
The management of a young plantation for the first twelve years is 
a duty requiring considerable care and watchfulness. The fences, 
and especially the wire-netting, must be regularly and carefully 
examined, weak parts and breaches repaired. During each planting 
season, for the first few years, the plantation must be gone over and 
blanks filled up; while each summer it must also be visited, and 
rank grass, that has a tendency to overgrow and choke the plants, 
cut to allow the free admission of air and light. The hardwoods 
must be well looked after, contending leaders and disproportionate 
branches unsparingly kept under by the pruning-knife. Where 
contending leaders occur in conifers, they should be checked 
by nipping off one of the rival buds. Thinning should be com- 
menced as soon as the trees show signs of being hampered. The 
first thinnings being generally too small to be of any account, they 
should be carried to an open space and burned ; for, if allowed to 
lie on the ground, they harbour insects, Young plantations should 
be thinned frequently, but never severely. Drains should always be 
kept in working order. 
