36 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and burned. No time is lost in stocking the thinned area with 

 an undercrop, 2-years' seedhngs raised in the home nursery 

 being used for the most part. The species used are those that 

 can endure the shade of the 350 to 600 larches that have been 

 retained per acre. 



Areas have been planted with Abies Menziesii, Thuja gigantea, 

 Abies Albertiana, Abies grandis, Cupressus Lawsoniana, Ctipressus 

 macrocarpa, Cupressus setnpervirens, Picea tiobilis, Picea abies 

 concolor, spruce, silver fir, Douglas fir (Colorado, blue), and 

 beech. Their cost is not much more than that of the more 

 common forest trees. In fact the revenue from the first 

 thinnings covers the cost of the cultivation of the plants from 

 the seed and the cost of their subsequent planting-out as an 

 underwood. An acre can be planted at from 20s. to 30s. 

 The ground being in a fine friable condition for the reception of 

 the plants, a man by using a dibble can plant loco trees a day. 



Usually about 2000 trees go to the acre, and the undercrops 

 are introduced at the rate of 30 acres a year. One thing that 

 tends very materially to aid the development of the undercrops 

 is the immunity of the estate from rabbits, hares, and deer, which 

 has been brought about by persistent and unremitting attention. 

 The system would be quite impracticable if a diff'erent state of 

 affairs existed, unless of course one set about enclosing the areas. 

 When planted, the young trees make rapid headway, and one 

 noticeable eff"ect throughout the plantations is the destruction of 

 the rank grass and similar herbage ; this is productive of no end 

 of good. Another effect brought about through the agency of 

 the underwoods is the formation of a valuable humus which 

 aids the growth of the larch as well as of the younger trees. 

 Once the underwoods have attained a certain height, and the 

 destruction of the herbage has taken place, there need be no 

 apprehension of the disease spreading to any serious extent. 

 The system is as simple as it is effective. A plantation thus 

 cultivated is much easier to manage than one composed of a 

 variety of even-aged species. The former practice of thus mix- 

 ing the larch with species having denser foliage — Douglas fir, 

 Albertiana, spruce, silver fir, beech, etc. — for combative pur- 

 poses has, when compared with the present system, very little to 

 recommend it. The contention was that by surrounding each indi- 

 vidual larch with other species immune to disease, the chances 

 of the disease spreading would be very remote. This isolation 



