NOTES OF SILVICULTURAL INTEREST. 69 



No disease or canker of any kind can be seen on the larch or 

 Douglas except that they have an unhealthy yellow tinge, which 

 may have resulted from the side shade of the other trees. The 

 soil is a light red loam, with a gravelly subsoil on which both 

 larch and Douglas should thrive well. The presence of a small 

 proportion of lime could not be regarded as the cause, as I have 

 seen Douglas beating larch on pure limestone in other parts of 

 the same county. 



Several authorities on the subject tell us that the ordinary 

 green or Oregon type of Douglas fir, which is of more rapid 

 growth than the glaucous or Colorado Douglas, will outstrip in 

 growth any other kind of tree planted at the same time, but 

 such does not appear to be the case in this instance, although 

 the Douglas referred to seem to be the common green variety. 



BuckwJieat as a Greencrop for the Nursery. — It becomes 

 necessary, after a long rotation of forest-tree crops on nursery 

 ground, to stimulate the soil's productiveness in some way or 

 another. This is usually done by manuring the ground and 

 cropping with potatoes or turnips. But the best method of 

 stimulating spent nursery ground is to sow a greencrop on 

 summer fallow and dig or trench it in when it possesses its 

 maximum of succulence and weight. 



Buckwheat answers this purpose best, as it never grows to a 

 great height, and is in consequence easily dug in. To obtain 

 the best results, buckwheat should be sown in the first or second 

 week of June, and dug in about the end of July, when it will just 

 have begun to bloom. Sown at lo stone to the imperial acre, it 

 will stand thickly on the ground and keep down all annual 

 weeds. This is one of its strong points, as it cleans land much 

 better than a potato or turnip crop, even with the constant 

 cultivation which attends them. 



When it reaches first bloom the buckwheat should be trampled 

 or rolled down flat on the ground, and then trenched in, the 

 ground, as it is turned over, being smoothed with the back of the 

 spade so as to close the seams and prevent evaporation. The 

 buckwheat will then ferment and form a rich manure. When 

 the soil has a light friable texture it ought to be consolidated by 

 rolling, else the decaying stems of buckwheat will render it 

 loose and hollow, and when it is clayey and tenacious, it receives 

 great benefit, and is mellowed and made porous by the manuring. 

 All kinds of trees do much better after this form of manuring 

 than they would after a turnip crop heavily manured. 



