BELGIAN SYSTEM OF PLANTING ON TURFS. I 55 



The preparation of the ground has cost hitherto ;^2, 6s. 8d. per 

 acre for 4840 plants per acre. The planting, including the con- 

 veyance of sand, has cost i6s. 8d., making ^^3, 3s. 4d. in all. 

 This does not include the cost of the plants. They were for 

 the most part 2-year seedlings from the home nursery, and their 

 cost, though it cannot be exactly estimated, is very small. Sand 

 or fine gravel has been found on the spot, and is indeed seldom 

 far off on a Scots moor. A small allowance must be made for 

 the basic slag, which has been added to the sand in the pro- 

 portion of one to seven. This manure certainly hastens the 

 development of the plants during the first few years. In experi- 

 ments made seven years ago in the Hertogenwald, its influence 

 is still clearly visible both in the better development of the 

 plants, and in the greater numbers which have survived the 

 attacks of frost, game, etc. Sand without manure has given 

 fairly good results at Corrour. Planting on the turf without the 

 addition of anything has not succeeded nearly so well. When 

 it is remembered that the ground could not have been planted at 

 all without careful draining, and that it would have been useless 

 to dibble 2-year seedlings into the natural surface, it will be 

 seen that the expense has been very little if at all in excess of 

 ordinary notching with 2-year i-year plants. How the two 

 methods compare in results can be judged from the photo- 

 graphs (Plates I. and II. and Fig. i.) 



In the accompanying figure (Fig. i) the right-hand specimen 

 is a 2-year seedling of Scots pine, which was planted on up- 

 turned turf, the left a 2-year i-year Scots pine, notched. Both 

 specimens are from the same plantation, they were planted in 

 April 1907, and photographed in October 1909. 



As time goes on the difference will probably become more 

 striking. The notched plants often sit five, six, or even ten 

 years without making any perceptible growth — mere sticks 

 with a microscopic tuft at the top, which once led a scornful 

 person to observe that a rose with two Corrour trees made a 

 nice button-hole. 



I am not sure, however, that 2-year seedlings can be recom- 

 mended for the turfs except in the case of Scots pine, which 

 makes a strong growth in its third year, and always seems to 

 get a good hold in the first season. Spruce and Mountain pine 

 seedlings are delicate things, and unless they make a really 

 good start the first year, are apt to get turned out by the frost. 



