2 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



the most urgent consideration at the moment is that of spacing. 

 As you will remember the question of spacing was brought 

 up at our last Annual Meeting by my friend Mr George Leven, 

 but owing chiefly to shortness of time the discussion which 

 followed was rather meagre, and as a result no definite 

 conclusions were arrived at. I hope that it will be otherwise 

 to-day, and that quite a number of gentlemen present will not 

 hesitate to give expression to their opinions. 



Well now I feel strongly that some of us at least must 

 modify views which, perhaps, we have long held with regard 

 to this important question. There can be no doubt that the 

 time has come when planting Scots pine or any other species 

 at 3 feet intervals must be relegated to the past, and I for one 

 believe that in doing so the future success of a plantation will 

 be in no sense sacrificed. Let us consider for one moment what 

 it means to plant i acre of 2-year 2-year Scots pine at intervals 

 of 3 feet at present day prices : — 4840 plants at 40s. per 

 thousand, if you are lucky enough to buy them at that, cost 

 say ;^9, 13s., and when to that has to be added the cost of 

 planting, fencing, and draining, one sees at a glance how 

 utterly hopeless it is for any individual to attempt to plant at 

 such a cost. Planting conifers at that price can never by any 

 stretch of the imagination prove a commercial success. Increas- 

 ing the distance between the plants to 4 feet reduces the cost 

 per acre to ;^5, 13s. for plants, and at 4^ feet apart the cost 

 would be further reduced to ;^4, los., or to rather less than 

 half the cost of planting at 3 feet. This then at once brings us 

 up against the problem — to what extent can one increase the 

 spacing without undue risk to the future welfare of the planta- 

 tion ? I agree that what might be a perfectly safe distance in 

 one instance might prove the reverse in another, and that 

 •distances must really vary with conditions. 



But as a result of certain experiments I have formed the 

 opinion that even on high-lying and exposed situations, Scots 

 pine can safely be planted so as to form a satisfactory crop at 

 4 feet intervals, and even that distance I would confine only to 

 those portions of the plantation which would be most affected 

 by wind. The remainder of the area I would have no hesitation 

 in planting at 4J feet apart. 



On ordinary planting or moorland ground I would hesitate 

 before planting at a wider interval, but given good soil and 



