24 TRANSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



thoroughly sound, when expenses are a matter of considerable 

 importance, to plant at the wider intervals. In a twenty-five- 

 year old plantation it is wellnigh impossible to tell from the 

 appearance of the standing trees alone, whether it was originally 

 planted with wide intervals or whether it had been closely 

 planted and judiciously thinned. Any silvicultural differences 

 brought about by the close spacing are eliminated by that time. 



It is interesting to note the present feeling on the Continent 

 and in America upon this subject. In the northern part of 

 Scandinavia, owing to the problem of expense and labour, pine 

 is being planted at intervals of 5 to 5-|- feet; spruce and silver 

 fir at 5^ to 6h feet. This, too, under conditions which are 

 not the most favourable but are nearly comparable to those 

 prevailing in the East of Scotland, both as regards climate and 

 soil. Jolyet, in France, considers a closer spacing than 6 feet 

 undesirable. In Germany, Schwappach recommends up to 

 6 feet for Douglas fir, but also advocates an early and severe 

 thinning leaving only 400 stems per acre at thirty years. In 

 Austria, Schiffel advises for Norway spruce on the best soils, 

 a distance of 6| feet. In America, Tourney states that 6 feet 

 by 6 feet is " the most acceptable for most species under most 

 conditions," while the spacing adopted in the National Forests is 

 from 6 to 9 feet. A Bohemian authority advocates for Norway 

 spruce a distance of 5 to 6 feet. In fact, the general trend of 

 recognised authorities who have arrived at their decisions by 

 experiment and not simply by conjecture, is towards wider 

 spacing, and there is little doubt that in these days of general 

 poverty it is a move in the right direction. 



Before drawing to a close, attention might be drawn to a 

 somewhat irrelevant matter, though one not entirely unconnected 

 with the question of planting distance, namely, that stem-form 

 and freedom from heavy branches are not entirely dependent 

 upon the density of woods, but to a large extent on climatic 

 and soil conditions. The superior stem-form of Scots pine in 

 Scotland compared with that of the same tree in England, is 

 very noticeable, as pointed out in Bulletin No. 3 of the Forestry 

 Commission, and there seems good reason to suppose that this 

 is due to the difference in climatic and soil conditions. 

 Branches are thinner and crowns narrower and more slender, 

 with the result that a larger number of trees can be grown to 

 the acre. In the Baltic States, where conditions are still more 



