THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 77 



doubt the Belgian method could be applied to many other 

 conditions of soil besides peat — stiff, wet clay for example. 

 It may be worth noting that a similar method of planting is 

 recorded as having been adopted for stiff clay soils in the 

 Forest of Dean and in Chopwell woods, Durham, in the beginning 

 of last century. In a quaintly written boolc,^ published in 1825, 

 William Billington, who had the superintendence of the planting 

 of X 1,000 acres in the Forest of Dean and 900 acres at Chopwell, 

 gives his experiences. He found ordinary methods of planting 

 the clays on the level quite unsuitable. Water lodged in the 

 holes made, the soil cracked and opened during summer and 

 exposed the roots, with the result that a larg€ percentage of 

 plants died. The rank growth of grass also smothered many 

 others which survived the transplanting ordeal. Billington 

 therefore adopted the method of planting on inverted turfs. 

 His method of procedure was similar to that followed at 

 Corrour, only his turfs were of necessity thinner than the 

 peat turfs. He sums up the results in the following words : — 



" 'Thus the raising of the holes and draining the ground were 

 done at nearly one expense, and by this method the ground 

 is left a great deal drier, no water being capable of settling 

 about the roots of the plants, affording at the same time a 

 stratum of soil as thick again as the original ; and by being 

 laid down a few months before planting the two swards rot, 

 and the sod becomes firmly fixed so that they can be planted 

 with the greatest ease without disturbing the soil ; part of 

 the roots will also be within the original surface, and the rich 

 soil produced by the rotting of the two swards affords a fine 

 pabulum for the roots of the plants during the two first years 

 when they stand in so much need of it, preventing also their 

 being loosened and thrown out of the ground by the frosts or 

 winds, as the soil about the roots is always dry and kindly, 

 the same as if planted in the driest soils. . . . The effects were 

 so great that I could safely recommend the plan to be acted 

 upon in all wet ground, as it can be done at nearly the same 

 expense as draining, the plants thriving exceedingly well, and 

 the other advantages always incalculable ' 



"The trees mainly used for planting at Corrour are introduced 

 species. The Scots pine, as already noted, proved a complete 



^ A copy of Billington's book may be seen in the library of tlie Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



