ioo Of mixed woods 



a given kind completely we see it prevail, but there are 

 many other conditions in which several kinds of trees 

 grow equally well groups of Larch among colonies of 

 Fir or Norway Spruce also single trees of each kind 

 scattered here and there with a sprinkling of Birch and 

 Beech, until the ground rises so high that the trees of 

 the Pine tribe clothe the rocks. Why should we not 

 more often follow this way, by which vast and steep 

 mountain ranges are clothed in some of the most pic- 

 turesque forest regions of the world ? 



Mixed planting. Mixed planting is, in many condi- 

 tions, the most profitable. It is the way, too, that best 

 aids us to adapt the soil to the tree ; all the more so in 

 broken ground, or the many places where we find 

 striking differences of soil in a small area. To take an 

 example from a few acres of ground I have lately dealt 

 with, we have a wet piece of ground near a stream, 

 where there is a good chance for the Norway Spruce, 

 which so often starves in dry soil, and above this wet 

 ground there is a nearly level bed of stiff soil, which 

 grows Oak of the best quality with a few Ash among it. 

 Above the level Oak bed there are some acres of a shaly 

 soil, on which the Oak starves ; so the stunted Oaks are 

 cleared, to plant with Larch and Scotch and Silver Fir ; 

 and these conditions occur in a wood of about twelve 

 acres. It is not intended that any hard lines should be 

 drawn between any of the trees, but that the kinds shall 

 run into each other, as they so often do in natural 

 forests where the soil or altitude changes. 



In forming mixed woods the fine vigour of our native 

 trees may often aid us by their persistent way of coming 

 from seed where we least expect them. If, in a wood- 

 land district, we plant an arable field with Pines of 



