34 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
When rabbits abound in any great numbers, their destruction 
within or near the young woods is necessary to insure the welfare 
of the young plants. This can best be secured by enclosing the 
area to be planted with a wire-netting fence, and all the rabbits 
inside should be killed before planting takes place. When there 
is no permanent fence, it is necessary to erect the netting on 
posts driven into the ground, and to fix it on a wire stretched 
along the top. The netting should not be less than 1} inch 
mesh, nor less than 48 inches wide, and it is best let 6 inches 
into the ground, to keep the rabbits from burrowing underneath. 
It is a good plan to let the netting lean well outwards, as this 
prevents climbing over the top. 
2. Draining—When necessary, as on deep, stiff soil, and 
also where stagnant surface-water exists, drains should be cut. 
In the formation of mixed woods, the number of these drains, 
and their distance apart, depends on the nature of the soil, and, 
to some extent, on the kinds of trees to be planted, so that no 
hard or fast rules can be laid down. The man on the spot is 
the best judge, as thorough draining may dwarf or kill one kind 
of tree, while it may be beneficial to another. When drains are 
opened on loose soil, it is necessary to cut them with sloping 
sides, narrowing from about 2 feet at the top to g inches at the 
bottom. On stiff and retentive soil, however, this sloping is not 
necessary. ‘The soil thrown out in making the drains should be 
spread over the ground. 
3. Cleaning the Ground.—Before the actual planting commences, 
it is advisable to get rid of all surface-weeds, such as broom, 
gorse, bracken, heather, bramble, briars, or other strong growth 
injurious to the young crop. Their presence would harm the 
plants, by robbing the soil of valuable plant-food, and most of 
them would not only hinder the proper development of the plants, 
but also endanger their existence, by smothering and killing 
them. 
Broom and Gorse are the most troublesome to deal with. 
Burning them over is no use, as this only encourages them to 
spring from the roots thicker and more luxuriantly than ever. 
It is therefore best to grub out the roots in the spring, when the 
shoots are beginning to grow. ‘Then the planting can take place 
in the following winter, as this gives the young crop a chance of 
getting established before any roots left in the ground can recover 
and make new growth injurious to the young trees, 
