136 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



by regular distribution, and covering them sufficiently to 

 quicken germination and protect them from exposure to the 

 weather and vermin. Assuming that the ground is suitable 

 for sowing, as described above, light seeds, like the birch and 

 alder, for example, may be scattered broadcast, but larger 

 seeds, down to the size of a small pea, like some of the pine 

 tree seeds, may be planted in twos and threes together by 

 hand, pressing the seed just into the surface and no more, 

 except in the case of the larger species, like the oak, the acorn 

 of which should be buried. For smaller seeds, on a grassy 

 surface, little more than contact with the soil is needed, as the 

 grassy covering will afford sufficient protection. Far more 

 danger arises from burying too deeply than from not covering 

 at all. In planting tree seeds, by hand, a few men can soon 

 go over much ground. The men starting in a line, about one 

 yard apart, with the outside row set out with flags, as a guide, 

 at each end of the line, one or two seeds should be deposited 

 at every step or thereabout, until one section is finished, then 

 the line of men wheeling round again takes up another section, 

 and so on till the ground is sown. In filling up vacant spaces 

 in woods the ground should first be cleared of all rank surface 

 vegetation by mowing or burning strips about one foot broad 

 and three feet apart, dug by the spade, and on these the seed 

 should be sown thinly in shallow furrows. Such strips are 

 afterwards easily found and kept free from weeds, and should 

 the seedlings come up too thickly they can be thinned out and 

 transplanted to make up deficiencies elsewhere. Sometimes, in 

 re-planting ground from which a crop of timber has been 

 removed, expensive preparations are made in preparing the 

 ground by stubbing up the old roots and trenching, etc., which 

 is, no doubt, beneficial to the next crop of trees, but in this 

 country such work is very expensive, and we doubt if it be 

 worth the trouble, while it is quite certain that many old woods 

 have been re-sown or re-planted where numerous old stools 

 were left in the ground without any harm resulting. In such 

 cases a change of crop, as regards the species, may be advis- 

 able, but as much that trees take out of the soil is restored to 

 it again in the fallen foliage, even a change is not urgent. In 

 forming plantations by sowing on good land the ground is 

 sometimes ploughed, cleaned, and fallowed, and sometimes 

 even steam ploughed, previous to sowing, but we do not think 

 such expensive preparations are necessary, seeing how well 

 both seedlings and plants thrive on poor ground that has 

 never been subjected to any preparatory treatment It is, 



