THE NOVAR SYSTEM OF COMBATING LARCH DISEASE. 341 
These he raises from seed in the home nursery and plants out, 
for the most part, as two-year seedlings—to some extent as 
three-year-old transplants—when they cost him but little more 
than the commoner forest trees. The surface of the ground 
being in fine friable condition, the underwood is introduced by 
dibbling, a wooden tool 2 feet in length and triangular in cross- 
section covered with sheet-iron being used for the purpose 
Working with this a man can easily plant rooo trees in a day. 
The rate of growth of the species employed averages a foot to 
a foot and a half per annum, and in six to ten years the under- 
wood or second story is practically covering the ground, with 
the crowns of the upper story of larch about 50 feet above. 
The intention is to repeat the thinning of the larch in about 
fifteen to twenty years from the time of the introduction of the 
underwood, when the number of larches left will vary from roo 
to 200 per acre. At sixty to eighty years, depending on the 
locality, the state of the markets, and the condition of the crop, 
the larches will all be removed, when, if prices remain as at 
present, a return from them of £100 to £150 per acre may be 
expected. What the value of the underwood at this stage may 
be must remain a matter for conjecture, but even if it be incon- 
siderable, the financial results of the rotation cannot fail to be 
satisfactory. Needless to say, the system, as just described, 
cannot possibly be practised except in the absence of hares, 
rabbits, and deer, which at Novar, owing to unremitting atten- 
tion, are practically non-existent. 
The various items of cost per acre may be summarised as 
follows :— 
4 
Burning the surface herbage preparatory to aie fe) 
3500 two-year seedling larch, at 6s.,_. : Pe 
Planting (dibbling or notching), at 95. per 1000, fo) 
Beating up, say 500 larch, three years old, at 12s. per 1000, fo) 
Planting ditto, at 3s. per 1000, ; fe) 
Keeping down rank herbage in certain parts, o 
Total cost per acre of establishing the larch wood, ee Aveo 
3000 two-year seedling Douglas firs or other species, at Ios., I 10 Oo 
Planting by dibbling, at 3s. per 1000, : 090 
Beating up, say 200 three-year-old plants, at tgs, : . See Gy ae PAS) 
Planting ditto, at 3s. per 1000, . : OO F 
£2 2 7 
VOL. XIX. PART II. Z 
