NOTES OF SILVICULTURAL INTEREST. 6^ 



II. Notes of Silvicultural Interest.^ 



By Thomas Hall. 



Sycamore as a Paying Crop. — Sycamore reproduces itself from 

 seed more freely than most other trees, especially in a damp climate 

 like Ireland. That it returns a good profit the following may 

 prove : — A large quantity of sycamore was cut and sold on this 

 estate during last winter, for which 4d. per cubic foot was re- 

 ceived. The logs were to have a diameter not less than i\ 

 inches at the small end, and to be any length. Each log 

 (average measurement) contained 7 cube feet of timber, and 

 showed 26 annual rings. On i acre of an old oak plantation, 

 which has been overthinned in its youth, a test was made, twenty 

 poles being cut averaging 7 cube feet each, which gave a return 

 of ^2, 16s. 8d. Next year twenty more on the same acre may 

 be cut, as they were nearly large enough this year. This, of 

 course, could not be maintained, under the present circumstances, 

 as the poles in recent years have always been cut down when- 

 ever they were large enough to make fencing rails ; but if the 

 oak standards were clear cut, and this part of the wood allowed 

 to grow a pure crop of sycamore, at least ten trees could be 

 cut annually per acre, which would give a return of 23s. 4d. 

 per acre per annum. 



The young seedlings spring up in thousands all over the wood, 

 rabbits do them very little injury, and although they thrive best 

 where they have deep soil, they seem also to thrive where the soil 

 is only 4 inches deep on limestone rock. Curiously enough, very 

 few of them — even where the soil was shallowest — were blown 

 down in the storm of February 1903. 



The Planter's Triangle. — Where a large number of pits have 

 to be opened for planting, and especially when the work has to 

 be done by contract, and regularity is desired, it will be 

 found a great advantage to use the triangle. It is made with 

 three light pieces of lath, one 4 feet long, — or whatever distance 

 apart it has been decided to plant, — and if this is to be the 

 distance, two more pieces 4^ feet long, and nailed together, as 

 shown in the diagram. The first row should be begun by setting 

 a line wherever it is desired to start work, the triangle being laid 

 down with the 4 feet side close to, and parallel with the line. 



The three holes are then marked by taking out a notch at each 



1 See also Vol. XXI. p. 179. 



