150 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



under-planted with spruce, silver fir and beech. By far the 

 largest area has been under-planted with spruce, but the silver 

 fir seems to have been more successful, while beech has not 

 been employed to a sufficiently great extent to enable one to 

 form an opinion as to its suitability, though, no doubt, it 

 would prove the most beneficial of all. The undergrowth 

 or soil-protecting crop of spruce or silver fir is introduced and 

 cleared off again twice, or it may be even thrice, in the course 

 of the rotation of the oak crop, which is 120 years, the poles 

 finding a ready market for paper pulp spruce making, etc." 



SECTION XVIII. EXTENDING PLANTATIONS BY 

 TRANSPLANTING THINNINGS. 



A good way of extending young plantations with trees 

 large enough to produce effect or, covert at once, is to use the 

 thinnings from young plantations by transplanting them else- 

 where, instead of cutting them out when they are next to 

 worthless for any other purpose. We have seen considerable 

 areas stocked successfully in this way, when the trees were 

 eight to ten feet high, both conifers and broad-leaved species. 

 Such trees should, however, not be planted thinly or as isolated 

 specimens, because they will not stand gales or exposure, 

 coming from a dense wood, and the plan is not recommended 

 except for the purpose named, but in groups and plantations, 

 and close enough to touch each other. This plan is not so 

 laborious or expensive as might be supposed, because large 

 balls of roots and transplanting machines are dispensed with. 

 The trees are prepared by a simple method of root pruning, 

 about a year before they are transplanted, and in the following 

 manner. Suppose a young plantation needs to be thinned 

 in the usual way, the trees to come out should all be marked, 

 and every marked tree should then be gone round with a long 

 sharp spade, and have its roots cut in to within about nine 

 inches from the stem. In doing this, the spade should be 

 pushed in in a slanting direction towards the tree and right 

 round the tree till the operator has made sure that every root 

 is severed. The root-ball should not be prized or heaved up, 

 but the spade should be only pushed in and withdrawn again. 

 A few unimportant roots may be missed under the stem of the 

 tree, but all the main roots will be cut if the spade is long 

 enough and well worked in. In this way one man can root- 

 prune many trees in a day. This work should be done in 

 early autumn or early spring, and if the operation has been 



