206 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
When required for planting, the plants are placed in boxes 
which usually have two compartments. To the partition in the 
middle of the box leather covers are attached, and these are used 
to cover the plants and protect them against drought while in 
the field. The roots are kept moist by being embedded in 
thin mud. 
Cultivation of the Forest Area prior to planting.—In the 
Eberswalde district the soil and air are so dry, and the growth 
of grass (chiefly Azra flexuosa) and blaeberries so persistent, that 
natural regeneration of the Scots pine meets with no success, 
and artificial regeneration is wholly depended upon. This is 
done by sowing or planting in prepared strips, the percentage of 
the area regenerated by sowing being one-third as compared 
with two-thirds regenerated by planting. But where the soil is 
fresher, and carries a good crop of beech, natural regeneration 
under the small group system is doing very well. 
The cultivation of the ground for Scots pine is usually done 
in strips about 1 foot wide, the width of the uncultivated strips 
between these being 3 feet. The turf may either be stripped by 
means of a plough, with a flat share and double mould-boards, 
or by means of the spade or broad hoe. The former method is 
quicker, but the sod is very irregularly taken off, with the result 
that the depth varies; and when there are many roots and 
stones present some other method must be adopted. In cultivat- 
ing the strips with the spade, the sod is cut down both sides and 
also down the middle. This allows of about half a foot of 
inverted sod being placed on either side of the planting strip. 
The inverted sod on each side prevents the young plants from 
being smothered by the rank growth of grass, which always 
grows strongly for a year or two after the old crop has been 
removed, and it also hastens the decomposition of the under- 
lying turf. A covering of grass, especially of Aira flexuosa, 
and moss is considered bad, as it usually dries the soil and pro- 
duces dry-humus, which is of no use to the plants. 
After the strips have been cleared, a man turns over a spadeful 
of earth at intervals of a foot and a half, and a worker follows with 
a wedge-shaped planting-spade, which he inserts into the turned 
over soil. This implement is pushed backwards and forwards 
so as to form a V-shaped incision. Another worker follows with 
a box containing the plants. Stooping, he uncovers the box; 
and taking a plant in his left hand, he proceeds to place it in 
