208 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The selected area is cleared of all turf, weeds, stones, and 
old roots, and the soil is thoroughly mixed. Before anything 
further is done a fence of wire netting is constructed round the 
cleared area. The posts of the fence usually consist of Scots pine 
stems split down the centre. The stems used are those which 
have been more or less affected with Zvametes pini, which 
produces a form of ring-shake. The wire netting is 3 feet wide, 
the mesh being small enough to keep out rabbits, and it is 
secured half a foot below the surface of the ground to prevent 
them from burrowing underneath. The posts are about 6 feet 
apart, and they stand 4 feet above the ground. A single wire, 
to which the netting is attached, is stapled to the top of the 
posts, and the cost of the completed fence is 4d. per yard. 
When the area has been fenced, the seed-drills are drawn, 
- usually by means of the “markeur,” as this is the quickest 
method. The seed is sown by the seed-horn, the drills 
are covered with the back of a rake, and the surface rolled. 
A part of the area is usually reserved for 1-year-old seedlings 
which are transplanted in the temporary forest nursery in order 
that they may become acclimatised before being planted out 
in spring to fill up the vacancies. 
InsEcT PEsts. 
Like other forest areas, Eberswalde is not spared the inflic- 
tion of insect pests, but the damage done by these is small 
compared with that inflicted by fungi, as the latter work havoc 
principally on old woods which are coming to their best. 
Of the Coleopterous family, the pine weevil (y/obius abtetis) 
and the smaller pine weevil (Pssodes notatus) do considerable 
damage to the young Scots pine and other conifers by gnawing 
the stems of plants from 2 to 5 years old. Perhaps a greater 
enemy of young plants, both broad-leaved and coniferous, is 
the cockchafer beetle (A/e/alontha vulgaris), which does great 
damage in the grub stage by gnawing the roots. Remedial 
measures are seldom practised in the forest, as the results are 
so incomplete and the cost is so great; but in the nursery 
affected plants are pulled up and destroyed, while between the 
beds round pits with steep sides are dug, into which the beetles, 
when crawling about in the evening, fall and are collected 
and destroyed. Of the beetles which attack the older Scots 
