I72 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
that in many houses the grates are now adapted for coal, 
whilst the open hearths, where brushwood burnt easily, are 
disappearing. The peeled bark of larch, formerly used for 
tanning, is now left lying on the ground, although fit for good 
firewood. 
The various systems adopted with reference to age and species 
of plants, number per acre, arrangement of mixed plantations in 
parallel strips, each strip consisting of a suitable number of 
adjacent rows of the same species, “ pitting ” and “ notching” in 
plants, as well as the preparation of the ground, and intervals 
of time between successive crops, are noted on the plan and 
schedule. 
Particular attention may be directed to plantations numbered 
16 and 21 in the plan, where examples of “ pitting” and ‘ notch- 
ing” are given in the same plantation; to number 1, where 
complete “underplanting” with spruce, where the larch crop 
failed at sixteen years of age in a mixed plantation, has suc- 
ceeded. ‘The general system of planting in strips, wherein, with 
a mixed crop, the number of adjacent parallel rows of the species 
forming a strip varies from one to six, is well illustrated in the 
different plantations. It is evident that the system of planting a 
mixed crop in alternate parallel strips, where the ground is 
suitable for such, ensures simplicity in thinning, numeration, 
removal, and in filling up vacancies; and in view of the insect 
pests and diseases now prevalent, the adoption of mixed crops 
seems very advisable, both for isolation of disease, and on the 
well-known principles of not putting all the eggs in one 
basket. » 
Six rows of larch alternating with three rows of Scots pine or 
spruce, or say only three rows of larch on ground where its 
thinning seems doubtful, appears to be the most practical form 
of mixture. 
“ Scraping” or mattocking a thin layer off the surface about 
6 inches square has been adopted in plantations numbered 13, 
14, and 19, at an additional cost of about 7s. 6d. per acre, and 
has been found useful for establishing young plants amongst 
thick vegetation, but it is no satisfactory preventive of the beetle. 
As a tree crop is, or should be, a long-lived crop, Forestry 
requires a long time and great patience for the derivation 
of knowledge, both from routine practice and from special 
experiment. 
