CHAP, xii.] Protection of the Soil 269 



Where woodlands are exposed to the action of dry winds, 

 care should be taken to favour the growth of branches down 

 to the very ground along all the outer lines of trees, so as to 

 protect the dead foliage and prevent evaporation of the soil- 

 moisture as much as possible. In coniferous crops a fringe of 

 Spruce, Douglas Fir, Silver Fir or Black Pine, is to be recom- 

 mended as forming the thickest mantle of foliage towards the 

 open ; but in crops of broad-leaved trees a very effective pro- 

 tective mantle can be formed by cutting the first few rows of 

 trees back to the stool, and letting them spring up as coppice. 

 Plantations in fields, or bordering on fields, should be fenced 

 in with good thick live hedges. On dry hill-sides, and more 

 particularly on those of a sandy nature and little retentive of 

 moisture, care must also be taken not to make large clear 

 annual falls of timber, but to regenerate naturally so far as 

 possible. When once the seedlings have established them- 

 selves, however, the parent standards have to be rapidly 

 removed ; for on such inferior situations the young growth can 

 ill bear any overshadowing that deprives them of the beneficial 

 dews at night. On such localities a certain amount of soil- 

 preparation for the reception of the seed is almost a necessity, 

 as without that the seedlings find difficulty in establishing 

 themselves, and are apt to be delicate. When this soil-pre- 

 paration takes the form of horizontal rills along the hill-sides, 

 it is more favourable towards water-catchment than any other 

 method ; consequently it tends to increase the amount of 

 soil-moisture, and thereby to enhance the productivity of the 

 land. Anything like irrigation of the soil can of course only 

 take place in osier-holts, and in nurseries. But wherever it is 

 feasible on dry hill-sides or on slopes covered with oak-bark 

 coppices, a good deal of benefit may be derived at a com- 

 paratively small outlay by leading off water from any water- 

 courses or ditches into small rills formed almost horizontally 

 along the slopes by means of a light plough. 



In order to prevent light sandy soil near the sea-coast from 



