224 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
generally caused by careless nursery-work than careless planting, 
and when plants so damaged in the nursery come to be set out 
in the woods, it is too late to remedy the defect, no matter what 
system of planting is adopted. That partial failures do some- 
times occur in planting by the notch-system there is not the 
least doubt; and perhaps where notching is least successful is 
in the restocking of ground that has been cleared of a thin crop 
of light-foliaged trees—another argument in favour of maintaining 
a good canopy to the end of the rotation. In such cases, if the 
ground is of a light, gravelly, or rocky nature, a very thick mat 
of coarse grasses and mosses takes possession of the surface ; 
and if a dry spring or summer follows the planting, the surface 
vegetation may prevent all light summer showers from reaching 
the newly-planted trees. It is then essential that the surface 
should be broken up by the mattock or some such tool, but as 
seedlings can then be safely used in many cases, the cost of 
nursery-work can at any rate be saved, but the planting cannot 
be so cheaply done as when small transplants are notched into 
the ground. But while experience has shown that under average 
conditions notch-planting of small conifers has been wonderfully 
successful in Scotland, the method is, of course, quite unsuited to 
the setting out of larger plants. 
In Chapter 1V. such important matters are discussed as the 
selection of trees for woodland crops, soil-preparation before 
planting, the best distances for planting, planting of waste land 
generally, and planting of sand-dunes in England, Germany, and 
France. 
Chapter V. covers the subjects of tending of woods and 
plantations, weeding and cleaning, thinning and_ partial 
clearances. General principles for thinning are laid down, and 
the various Continental methods are discussed. The question of 
pruning, and how far it is advisable in forestry practice, is con- 
sidered in a sensible way, though probably few practical foresters 
would go any further in the way of pruning larch nursery 
plants than shortening back any contending leading-shoot. 
The renewal of woodland crops forms the subject-matter of 
Chapter VI. It is shown that highwoods may be renewed by— 
(1) clear-felling with artificial regeneration, or regeneration by 
wind-blown seeds chiefly ; (2) successive falls or partial clearances, 
and the successive falls by—(@) casual fellings, (6) fellings in 
patches, (c) regular partial clearances with uniform natural 
