1 1 6 TREE-PLANTING. 



imperial acre, but in low sheltered situations 3,000 are 

 accounted sufficient, and Scotch pine are mostly 

 planted with them. 



The seeds of the larch are usually sown in the 

 southern counties of England about the middle of 

 April, and in the more northern ones, and in Scotland 

 about the end of that month. The seeds grow best 

 upon ground that has been made rich for a previous 

 crop, but if newly prepared, well rotted, old seasoned 

 manure should be used, decayed leaves, or vegetable 

 mould. The ground should be well pulverised and 

 made very fine by raking, and beds marked out four 

 feet wide. One pound of seed is generally considered 

 sufficient for a bed of four lineal yards, the seeds 

 merely covered to the depth of a quarter of an inch 

 with soil. In a fortnight or three weeks, according 

 to the weather, the plants generally make their 

 appearance. Both the birds and the grub-worm are 

 persistent enemies to the young larch plants, which 

 should be guarded against them as effectually as 

 possible, and the beds require to be carefully weeded 

 throughout the season. The young plants complete 

 their first year's growth by the end of September, 

 and will stand from four to seven inches high. If 

 there is a good crop and they stand thickly in the 

 ground, the plants should be loosened with a fork ; 

 and thinned out during winter or spring. Those 

 which have been thinned out should then be trans- 

 planted into lines about a foot and a half apart, or 

 rather less, the plants standing in rows a few inches 

 asunder ; they stand thus for one year, when they 

 become, with the others which have remained undis- 

 turbed in their bed, two-year old seedlings, and 



