36 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
straight vertical edge, so that when the seedlings are placed 
in position, they stand perfectly upright, and with their roots 
straight down, not bent round as would be the case if the cut 
were sloped. The roots should be well covered with soil and 
manure spread along the line, which should then be covered 
with a spading of soil, after which the seedlings should be 
firmed, the soil carefully levelled down, and the next row 
commenced. When lifted at the end of their period in the 
nursery, such plants will be found to have a natural root- 
system, well furnished with rootlets on all sides. This enables 
them to stand transplanting to the woods, generally to inferior 
soil, and perhaps also a severe exposure; whereas poor seedlings 
with twisted roots and bent rootlets are not able to make proper 
growth, and may perhaps never form a normal root-system. 
6. Planting—Two methods are extensively used in this 
country for planting trees, called (a) Slitting or Notching, and 
(6) Pit-planting. 
Slit-Planting.—On bare hillsides or moorlands, at a fairly 
high altitude, where the soil is scanty, poor, and stony, and 
where there is only a surface-covering of short heath or grass, 
slit-planting is easy, cheap, and effective. The best size of 
plant to use is one- or two-year-old stout and strong seedlings 
of larch, Corsican pine, oak, Douglas fir, and ash, while slower- 
growing kinds, such as beech, spruce, and silver fir should be 
three or four years old before being transplanted to the woods, 
as this enables them to be tall enough to compete successfully 
with the surface-growth. 
Notching or slit-planting consists in making two cuts at right 
angles to each other, in the shape of the letters L or T, and 
bending the spade down, which lifts the turf, when the plant is 
placed in the cut underneath the spade, and on this being 
smartly removed, the plant is firmly trodden in. 
To notch successfully, it is necessary to make a perpendicular 
cut, so that when the plant is trodden in it may remain upright. 
The cut should also be deep enough to ensure that the seedling 
lies with its roots perpendicular between the two surfaces of the 
cut, and not bent or twisted round in any way. 
Pit-Planting.—On good, strong, deep, low-lying soil, with a 
rich surface of natural herbage, which grows 2 or 3 feet in one 
season, it is necessary to use large plants, tall enough, at the 
beginning, to compete successfully with the surface-growth; and, 
