38 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Underplanting larch woods with Douglas fir should not 

 preferably be delayed beyond the thirtieth year, as the danger of 

 too long delay may be experienced in the unlooked for decay of 

 the larches before the Douglas firs have reached a marketable 

 size. All the suppressed and weakly stems should have been 

 previously removed, and from 500 to 600 standards will be 

 sufficient to leave per acre. The size of the Douglas plants to 

 be used in the operation must be determined by local conditions, 

 but if no danger is to be apprehended from ground game, 

 2- or 3-year-old seedlings may be used and planted by the 

 dibbling-iron, a cheap and efficient process. 



April we find by experience to be the most favourable month 

 for planting, and for general use 2-year seedlings i-year trans- 

 planted give the best results. These may be planted either by 

 pitting or notching, but the latter method, in our moist climate, 

 and when carefully done, is quite satisfactory. The distance at 

 which they are put in is usually from 3 to 3^ feet. In ground 

 covered with a rank growth of bracken, pits are opened at 4 feet 

 apart, and a larger class of plant used. With a little attention 

 for the first two years after planting, the Douglas firs rapidly 

 assert themselves, and in a few years are capable of suppressing 

 the rankest growth. 



When thinning operations become necessary they must be 

 conducted with a fight hand, the aim being always to keep the 

 ground as heavily stocked as possible, without endangering the 

 health of the plantation, until it has reached its maximum of 

 height-growth, in order to promote branch-shedding and to 

 guard against damage by gales. 



As regards the reproductive capacity of the Douglas fir, it 

 leaves little to be desired. Indeed, its early reproductive 

 features were regarded by some as a sure sign of early decay, but 

 this belief has now been dissipated. 



Trees of about 15 years of age, if occupying an open, 

 sunny position, may be depended upon to produce a supply of 

 good seed, but from 30 to 50 years may be regarded as the 

 most fertile period. As an illustration of this fertility, I had 

 the produce of an outlying specimen tree 40 years of age 

 counted, and found that the total number of cones amounted to 

 over 15,000. The tree was branched to the ground, and even the 

 lowest tier was thickly covered with cones. There is no rule by 

 which a good seed-harvest may be foretold. The bloom, which 



