ON PLANTING DISTANCES FOR CONIFERS. 



19 



the whole wood is without doubt affected. Probably the same 

 is true of pine and other species. The following series of 

 figures, the accuracy of which is vouched for, may prove 

 interesting. Plots were staked off in young woods which had 

 never been touched since their formation. The acreage of 

 the plots was measured, the planting distance ascertained, and 

 the actual number of living trees counted. The considerable 

 number of dying trees present were counted among the living. 



From the above, it will be seen that : — 



3. With certain species, after a certain time, the tendency is 

 for the number of trees remaining alive on the area, to 

 approximate whether the planting distance be 3 feet by 3 feet 

 or 6 feet square. After a still further period of time, the number 

 of trees will be practically the same, whether the planting 

 distance was 3 feet square or 8 feet square, and this is especially 

 the case with wide-branching and rapid-growing trees like 

 Douglas fir and Japanese larch. Moreover, there are examples 

 of Sitka spruce planted at 9 feet square, where the canopy has 

 closed before the twentieth year. 



4. Open conditions stimulate the growth of all common 

 coniferous species, excepting pine in its early stages. The 

 result of experiments with spruce by Schiffel in Austria shows 

 that the volume-increment of timber is greater in the open stand, 

 and that the total volume at twenty-five years is very little 

 less than in the close stand. Some writers state that the 

 ultimate volume of timber in the open stand is even greater than 

 in the close wood. With pine the opposite may be the case, 



