256 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



growth must result unless extreme care and trouble is exercised 

 in thinning. 



Careful grading of plants at the time of planting, and the 

 filling up of blanks in the original crop during the first two 

 years, are probably the most important matters to attend to if 

 wide planting is adopted. If these precautions are taken the 

 result should not be far from satisfactory, while the expenditure 

 on planting can be reduced by 25 % more or less. 



A. C. Forbes. 



The Midland Re-afforesting Association. 



This Association was founded on the 12th of February 1903 

 Its main object is to encourage the planting of waste lands 

 in the Black Country and other parts of the Midlands. The 

 report for the year 1921 shows that the Association confine 

 their planting principally to the pit-waste sites. 



The plantations which have been formed under the auspices 

 of the Association vary in size from half up to 5I acres. One 

 plantation, however, extends to 34 acres. In all some thirty- 

 six plantations covering a total of 83 acres were planted up to 

 1 916. Hardwoods, such as poplars, willows, sycamore, ash, 

 birch, white alder, black alder, hornbeam, and Wych elm pre- 

 dominate. Corsican pine and Sitka spruce have been tried 

 experimentally. Experts who have from time to time visited 

 the plantations formed by the Association, or under its direction, 

 have all agreed that the growth was remarkable. The repair 

 and maintenance of these existing plantations are taxing the 

 resources of the Association heavily. New members are much 

 needed, and an appeal is made at the end of the report to 

 residents in or near the Black Country to join the Association. 

 The minimum annual subscription is five shillings. Among 

 its activities the Association feels that it was a sound policy 

 that advised the formation of small model plantations in con- 

 nection with schools, a policy which, it seems, has been 

 steadily followed by the Rowley Regis Education Committee. 

 The Association hopes that "it will soon be taken up by other 

 such authorities. 



