PLANTING 9 



trees will be over-topped by heather, fern, or 

 gorse. 



The formation of fences is an expensive item. 

 The cost of erecting a fence round a small planta- 

 tion, say, one of four acres or less, may vary 

 very much according to the cost of labour and 

 material in the locality of the plantation, but 

 in every case the fence would almost certainly 

 cost more than the trees. The larger the 

 plantation the less is the cost per acre. The 

 ratio of increase between acreage and fences, 

 assuming that the plantation is in the form 

 approximately of a square, is that a fourfold 

 increase of acreage requires a twofold increase 

 of fences. Suppose that a plantation of four 

 acres cost £12 for fences — that is, £3 per acre — 

 then sixteen acres require £24, or £1 10^. per 

 acre, and sixty-four acres require £48, or 155. 

 per acre. A forty-acre plantation costs for the 

 erection and maintenance of the fences only 

 double a ten-acre plantation. 



Long rectangular plantations have the largest 

 amount of fences per acre. Circular fences 

 should be avoided, because they are difficult to 

 erect. 



In order to make use of existing fences, and 

 so reduce the cost, a plantation should, if possible, 



