THE FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT? OF GAME COVERTS. 215 
and also by producing a strong healthy growth. Drainage should 
also have been attended to previous to opening the pits, and all 
stagnant water or superfluous moisture removed by the formation 
of open drains. 
In giving a list of the best evergreen shrubs for covert purposes, 
I would call attention particularly to the merits of laurel, box, privet, 
laurustinus, holly, and yew, as these have been very extensively 
used on this estate for underwood, and with the best possible results. 
As to which of the above shrubs should receive pre-eminence as an 
ornamental covert plant I cannot decide, each having some peculiar 
merit rendering it valuable in its own particular place. We will, for 
the present, however, cousider all alike in this respect, and briefly 
describe the value of each separately, beginning with the laurel. 
The common and Colchic laurels are amongst our best shrubs for 
underwood, and should be planted extensively ; they are of free 
growth, bear cutting and pruning well, and thrive under the shade 
and drip of other trees. For covert planting the Colchic is perhaps 
preferable to the normal form, as it is of a more dense and pro- 
cumbent habit, perfectly hardy, and less liable to injury from hares 
and rabbits. The common laurel requires frequent and heavy 
pruning to keep it in bounds, as, if allowed to ramble at will, it soon 
becomes bare near the ground, and useless either as game covert or 
ornament. Last spring we layered a great number of this plant 
that had through neglect become useless for the purpose intended, 
many being from 12 feet to over 20 feet in height, and with simply 
a tuft of foliage near the top. In layering, we sawed the stems 
half through near the ground, to assist in bending, and laid the 
plants flat on their sides, a couple of stout pegs being driven 
alongside, the crooked heads of which served to keep the plants 
in their procumbent position. A spadeful of soil was then placed 
on the top of each peg to assist the layer in rooting. The result 
at the present time is everything that could be desired, each stem 
having thrown up quantities of young shoots, and thus formed a 
jungle of underwood, which year by year will increase in value. 
In planting the laurel for covert avoid overcrowding, as, being of 
quick growth, the plants, even although placed at a considerable 
distance apart, soon unite and form a continuous undergrowth. No 
rule can be laid down as to the distance which should be allowed 
between individual plants, this depending entirely on their size as 
well as quality of the soil in which they are to be planted. Here 
we not unfrequently plant double thick, either for immediate 
