DISCUSSION ON MR MACDONALD's PAPER. 9 



months of its having been felled and the branches cleaned and 

 burned. It is quite worth spending money to clean the ground 

 thoroughly, because if you use 2-year seedlings the cost of 

 plants is about one-half or less of the cost of transplants, such 

 as are necessary where there is a strong growth of herbage or 

 weeds. That is one of the most important points in restocking 

 felled areas. That money is going out all the time in actual 

 rates and taxes, apart from the revenue you are not getting on a 

 growing crop, is a fact which is often lost sight of. People pay 

 these and other rates and taxes as a whole, and they do not 

 realise money is going out all the time on unstocked areas 

 without any return whatever. 



As regards planting distances, I think that we have all 

 modified our views. I have always been rather in favour of 

 wider distances than 3 feet, and certainly results with Japanese 

 larch, Sitka spruce and Douglas fir tend to show that 6 feet is 

 quite a safe distance. I have seen Douglas fir planted at 

 3i to 4 feet, and the conclusion I have come to after ten or 

 fifteen years' observation is that if you have good soil, 6 feet 

 is not a bit too wide to plant. This seems to be a perfectly safe 

 distance even against damage by snow, which is the great 

 danger when Douglas fir becomes ten or fifteen years old. 

 With regard to Sitka spruce, it shows a diversity in growth in 

 different parts of Scotland, but my experience is that Sitka spruce 

 does not branch very strongly ; common spruce does, and it 

 requires to be planted rather closer, about 4^ feet. I have no 

 particular experience of Scots pine. That is not a tree that we 

 go in for very much. I do think we have got to revise our 

 ideas about planting distances, and the only point is how far is 

 it safe to go in the direction of wider planting and still get a 

 proper crop and a clean crop. That is, I think, the controlling 

 factor that we must consider in dealing with distances. With 

 regard to planting by piecework, I do not agree with what Mr 

 Macdonald has said, and I think it may be rather a dangerous 

 thing in purely silvicultural operations. I agree that the more 

 it is adopted in preparatory work the better, and I am quite sure 

 that you get as good drains and as good fences if this is done 

 according to a specification by contract, as by day's work." 



Lord Lev AT. — " On the subject of the price of plants I would 

 like to say, speaking on behalf of the Forestry Commission, that 

 they consider that for the subsidised unemployment schemes the 



