66 FORESTRY WORK 



This is particularly so in the case of Larch, which is 

 attacked by the canker fungus, Feziza Willkommii. 



At the end of the growing season, or when too damp 

 for hoeing, another method of suppressing weeds is to 

 " point " the ground between the lines. Pointing is really 

 shallow digging. 



The top 3 inches or so of soil is dug or, rather, shovelled 

 over, and all weeds buried. Those between the plants 

 can be drawn with the point of the spade or pulled by 

 hand and placed in the shallow trench, where they are 

 buried by the next spadeful of soil. 



The work is slower than that of hoeing, but does not 

 need doing so often, and is the better method where there 

 are many weeds in damp weather. The loosening of the 

 soil, too, is of great benefit to the plants. 



Pruning Nursery Plants. 



As explained before, seedlings of Oak and Ash, amongst 

 others, have strong taproots, often longer than the portion 

 of the plant above the ground. If these are allowed to 

 grow untouched for two or three years in the nursery 

 lines, the plants will be very difficult to lift and also 

 to transplant in the woods. In lifting they would probably 

 be injured by spades. An excessive length of taproot is 

 not necessary, so, as suggested before, they should be 

 pruned back after being raised from the seed-beds, so 

 that the downward growth may be checked and the 

 growth of the smaller roots thereby encouraged. 



When roots are injured during the operation of lifting, 

 they should be pruned back as far as the injury, care 



