30 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETy. 



within reasonable altitudes — in any quantity, the planter may 

 follow, generally, with trees of good timber qualities, e.g. larch, 

 etc. Yet a certain amount of discrimination is necessary, and it 

 is advisable also to take into consideration the grasses that grow 

 along with the bracken. One notable illustration may be stated. 

 Several instances having come under observation where bracken 

 and the soft grass Holciis lanatus were found in company, 

 larch and Douglas when planted proved an almost complete 

 failure, which on being rectified by substituting silver fir, 

 common or Sitka spruces, resulted in as complete success The 

 grass named is always found on soil of the best quality with a 

 good degree of moisture ; but it is questionable if the moisture 

 is the sole cause, as larch does very much better on soil carrying 

 Festuca elatior, which is also a lover of a high degree of 

 moisture, but thrives on a soil of inferior quality. Neither was 

 the failure due to the propensity of Holcus for overlaying and 

 smothering plants. The question may therefore be asked, Does 

 Holcus produce any toxin in the soil which may be injurious 

 to certain trees ? It need scarcely be said that bracken does not 

 frequent soils with a high degree of moisture, therefore, when 

 damp or wet soils are under consideration some other form of 

 vegetation has to be looked for as a guide. On the best classes 

 of such soils spruce is almost certain to give satisfactory 

 results, provided the ground is sufficiently drained. It may be 

 remarked, however, that rushes — either single or tufted — almost 

 invariably indicate good spruce soils, and where they are thin 

 and not over strong in growth, little or no draining may be 

 necessary. Coming to peaty soils, the rush is again the best 

 guide that can be found, as it is to be met with only in the 

 better parts of such. Pure peat may also be very well classified 

 at its face value, and it has been observed that this value is not 

 so much dependent on depth as on quality, and the quality is 

 indicated in a very accurate manner, to the practised eye, by the 

 nature of the herbage it carries. In all cases where rushes are 

 in evidence, it has been found that peat is capable of growing 

 spruce ; and also where a crop of bog myrtle grows it will 

 usually serve the same purpose. In both cases, however, good 

 drainage is necessary. 



The worst class of plants met with on the hills belongs to the 

 genus " Scirpus," which invariably indicates a class of peat 

 that has to be very carefully considered or rigorously ignored ; it 



