SYLVICULTURE 39 



barrows, similar to those used in agricultural practice, are 

 often used for sowing Scots Pine seed, but less frequently 

 for the larger seeds acorns and beech-nuts. 



It is necessary to cover most seeds with soil after sowing. 

 The amount of covering varies according to the method of 

 sowing and the size of the seed. The larger the seeds, the 

 deeper should they be covered ; acorns are buried one to 

 one and a half inches deep, the seeds of conifers not more 

 than half an inch, Alder and Birch seeds have at most only 

 a little fine soil strewn over them. The rake is the imple- 

 ment usually employed for covering seed. With Alder and 

 Birch seeds, it is only necessary to roll or otherwise firm 

 the soil after sowing. 



A difference, which is very marked in the case of delicate 

 species, exists between sowing under the protection of a wood 

 and quite in the open. Where a position is much exposed, 

 a temporary protection wood may be first grown, and in 

 the shelter it affords seeds can be sown. For instance, 

 Birch may be planted, and after a few years acorns can be 

 inserted in intermediate lines. The system of sowing forest 

 seeds along with an agricultural crop may also be alluded to 

 as one that affords some shelter in the first year. 



Planting 



Direct sowing of forest ground has many disadvantages. 

 Upon poor soil more young plants may spring up than can 

 well be nourished ; upon fertile situations other forms of 

 vegetation grow so quickly that tiny forest seedlings are 

 suppressed, or only saved after expensive measures for " clean- 

 ing " have been resorted to. Only the medium soils are 

 suitable subjects for sowing, and they must be tolerably free 

 from weed growth. 



Owing to the rather uncertain nature of direct sowing, 

 the system of planting by which stock that has been raised 

 elsewhere is made use of, is largely practised. The young 

 plants come either from nurseries or they are taken as 



