THE LAYING-OUT OF A MIXED PLANTATION. 4!I 
does well also on chalk, clay, or peaty soil. It stands exposure 
well. 
8. System of Mixing.—As the various kinds of mixtures are so 
numerous, no general rules apply to all of them, so only those 
above mentioned as species suitable for mixtures will here be 
dealt with. 
When Qaé is to form the main crop, it is best to plant it every 
12 feet, so that there will be plenty to choose from when, after 
repeated thinnings, only the straightest, healthiest, and best trees 
are left to form the final crop. The distance between the oak 
should be filled up to about 4 feet intervals with fast-growing 
kinds, such as larch, spruce, ash, and Spanish chestnut, which 
are all able to develop into something useful by the time they 
are thinned out. These subordinate trees realise more money as 
thinnings than oak of small diameter would. Larch should 
always form one of the subordinate species, as its thinnings are 
the most valuable. Although not of much value as thinnings, 
beech is another tree which should be mixed with oak, to improve 
the soil and clean the oak stems into straight, valuable timber. 
When it is intended to form the main crop, Beech should, like 
- the oak, be mixed with other species more valuable as thinnings, 
such as larch, silver fir, ash, and Spanish chestnut. 
When Douglas Fir is intended for the main crop, it should be 
planted every 12 feet, and the spaces between filled up with 
larch, spruce, silver fir, and Corsican pine. The Douglas grows 
the cleanest timber when planted pure, but in the meantime the 
young plants are so expensive that it is advisable to plant them 
mixed at this distance, and filled in with cheaper plants. 
Corsican Pine, when intended to form the main crop, may be 
dealt with similarly to Douglas fir. 
Mixing is most successful when Zarch is intended to form the 
main crop, and when it is mixed with spruce, silver fir, Corsican 
pine, Spanish chestnut, or beech. But the last named should 
always (on suitable soil) form one of the subordinate species, 
because of its heavy fall of leaves being so beneficial. 
One of the best ways of planting mixed woods is to peg off 
the ground into strips. Thus, if twelve men were holing or 
planting at 4 feet apart, that would mean every strip would be 
16 yards wide. Sticks could be set up at that distance, as this 
would greatly help to keep the men right, and secure that the 
proper number of plants should be set to the acre. When slit- 
