THE UTILISATION OF DISUSED PIT-BANKS. 33 



No particular description of the character of the bank at the 

 time it was abandoned and when planting was commenced has 

 been kept, but comparison of the surface material with that taken 

 from a foot below the surface shows that disintegration has gone 

 on to a remarkable extent. At a very short distance below 

 the surface, the material is caked into hard masses containing a 

 considerable quantity of pyrites. 



Part of another pit-bank on the estate was last year abandoned, 

 and encouraged by the results attained on the Charley Pit-bank, 

 Mr Parkin Moore is to have experiments carried out on this 

 newer bank. The bank has been on fire for a number of years, 

 and a large part of it is burned out. Examination shows that 

 there are bands or strata in it which present a red burnt-brick 

 appearance, and during the present summer it has been noticed, 

 that these parts are irregularly dotted over with vegetation, 

 chiefly Senecio viscosus, while those parts of the bank which are- 

 of a finer, grey to black material have not naturally produced 

 any plant life whatever. Rape seed sown on these two parts of 

 the bank has produced much stronger plants in the red, rough 

 material than in the finer, grey to black material. The capa- 

 bilities of the two parts will be further tested. 



Description of Illustrations. 



Fig. I. Larch, birch and spruce in foreground, showing 9 years' growth in 

 February 191 2. 



Fig. 2. Larch and Scots pine, showing 10 years' growth in February 1912, 

 with younger larch and beech in foreground. The trees in this figure are 

 growing behind the large Scots pine in the right background of Fig. i. 



Fig. 3. North side of steep part of bank with larch (European and 

 Japanese), birch, Scots pine, etc., showing 6 and 7 years' growth in 

 February 1912. Rhododendrons are growing near the top of this part of 

 the bank. The large spruce to left of the illustration is the same tree as 

 the spruce in the foreground of Fig. i. Both photographs are taken 

 from practically the same point and facing the same way — east. This 

 figure illustrates what may be generally described as the second stage of 

 planting on the bank, and Figures i and 2 the first stage. 



Fig. 4. Root of birch. 



,- x> r fash — to left. 



1*IG. 5. Root of] , 



'- oak —to right. 



., -- T, f r spruce — to left. 



Fig. 6. Root o^\ , 



V elm — to right. 



VOL. XXVII. PART I. 



