250 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the Stool shoots grew so quickly that they had to be cut over 

 at least twice, and in some cases as often as three times, before 

 the young trees were safe from being smothered. This was 

 especially so in the parts under hazel and birch. In addition, 

 bracken, usually a thin crop amongst the scrub, rapidly 

 thickened on getting full light and became a further danger 

 to the young plants. 



It was decided to try underplanting the scrub with shade- 

 bearing conifers, even where it was so thick that hardly any 

 vegetation existed under its shade, with the intention of cutting 

 it out by degrees as the young trees progressed and of laying 

 it between the rows. As it happened, the first experiment on 

 these lines took place just before the war, with the result that 

 for several years only a little could be done in the way of 

 clearing the scrub, and though no loss of plants occurred, their 

 rate of growth was very much retarded where the scrub was 

 thick. At the same time the experiment was, perhaps, more 

 instructive for this very reason. 



The species planted were principally Sitka spruce, Douglas 

 fir, Abies grandts, Abies Nobilis, with smaller quantities of various 

 spruces, Thuya gigantea, etc. It was soon apparent that there were 

 to be no losses from early and late frosts, or from drought in 

 early summer, the most frequent causes of failure. In fact, 

 no beating up has been required, except in the case of Thuya 

 gigantea and cypress, which were destroyed by roe deer and 

 hares. These also nibbled off all the leading shoots of Abies 

 grandis the year they were planted as 3-year-old seedlings, but 

 they soon made new tops and have grown well since. 



When it came to cutting out the scrub, the original plan had 

 to be abandoned as impossible, as it would have entailed far 

 too much labour, and also because it meant considerable 

 damage to the conifers which, in the more open parts, were 

 already of considerable size. The method now adopted and 

 found quite satisfactory, and entailing the minimum of labour,, 

 is to cut out all the light stuff and to remove the lower 

 branches of larger trees which can be dealt with by a billhook, 

 and lay them between the hnes of young trees. Heavier 

 stuff is ringed round near the root by the billhook, or in the 

 case of larger trees by an axe, and then left to die off. 

 In this method the ringed trees remain and afford a certain 

 amount of protection to the young plants from frost and wind,. 



