SOME SILVICULTURAL ASPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF THE SOIL. 45 



The second types, which are more common in this country 

 than in Sweden, bear a ground flora of a few creeping mosses with 

 plants like blaeberry in their opener spaces. But the soil is of 

 two kinds. In one the surface is of somewhat matted humus, 

 but the presence of earthworms keeps the texture slightly open ; 

 below the humus is bleached soil, i to 2 inches thick, while 

 below that is the rusty-red subsoil. It was found that from the 

 first summer after felling such a woodland, a series of changes 

 took place in soil conditions and was reflected in the ground 

 flora : a gradual improvement occurred, reaching its climax 

 from the second to the fourth year, after which, retrogression 

 begins to be visible. The loam-loving plants mentioned above 

 (nettles, raspberries, etc.) gradually gave way to the more heath- 

 like flora of blaeberry and heather. The soil condition stressed 

 by Hesselman is nitrification, but it seems from the general 

 evidence that increase in nitrification is only an indication of 

 change in the direction of good general soil condition, while the 

 later decrease of nitrate present is obversely an indication of 

 deterioration toward the original semi-peaty humus, which would 

 finally turn to peat. Leaving out the question of natural 

 regeneration, these facts would indicate very clearly that in such 

 a woodland replanting should be carried out practically at once 

 after felling so as to take full advantage of the few years of 

 almost ideal soil conditions, and by the time the reversion to 

 the normal soil conditions has taken place (3-4 years after 

 planting) the plantation will be well established, and will have 

 formed the mycorhiza symbiosis which seems necessary or 

 certainly invaluable in the utilisation of nitrogen not in the 

 nitrate form. Thus the danger period of the first two years after 

 planting will be passed under the very best soil conditions 

 possible from the soil under consideration. 



In the second form of mossy coniferous forest, the vegetation 

 was somewhat similar under canopy. The soil was diflferent; 

 below the leaf-litter with its moss a distinct peaty layer 

 2-3 inches deep upon 4 inches of bleached soil, lay over the 

 same rusty-red subsoil, again a somewhat common soil in this 

 country. When opened up, the small hair grass {Aira Jiexuosa) 

 took possession of the soil, giving the area a violet appearance 

 from the colour of its flowers. The soil is obviously of a 

 poorer class than the previous. Here natural regeneration was 

 poor and difficult to accomplish without some sort of soil 



