86 Wood and covert from seed 



I was encouraged to sow more in spite of the rabbits, 

 and there are now thousands of bushes on this water- 

 less, soilless bank, and a beautiful bloom comes in mid- 

 summer after most of the flowering shrubs are past, the 

 effect being good as far as it can be seen. Our native 

 Broom {Cytisus scoparhis) is a very beautiful plant, though 

 it does not make such good covert as the Furze. It is 

 very graceful where it grows here and there in quarries 

 or rough, stony places. The Portuguese (or White) 

 Broom (C. albus) is a graceful bush and comes freely 

 from seed, which should be sown in sandy, warm places. 

 Sow early in June. One of my reasons for sowing the 

 seeds of these things is the difficulty of transplanting 

 them if not bought very young, and even then they often 

 fail. Besides, there is the expense of transplanting and 

 no end of labour entirely got rid of by bold sowing, and 

 my friends and myself see better effects from this work, 

 simple as it is, than has been got in other ways with 

 many times the expense and labour. In garden culture 

 it would often repay to slightly cover the seed, and in 

 sowing small pieces it would be safer to do so ; but 

 in dealing with various rough surfaces about a country 

 place, and using seed freely, it is not necessary. 



In the autumn of 1903, acorns being plentiful, I sowed 

 a field with them, using the plough. They came up 

 well, too thickly, and we lost two or three years in 

 growth by neglecting to keep out rabbits. In spite 

 of that the roots eventually became the masters, and by 

 the summer of 1906 we had a vigorous Oak wood. 

 Excluding ground game one might then hope to raise 

 on cool ground a thriving young Oak wood in twelve 

 years. 



A better way than mine, if there be the time to carry 



