14 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



If a plantation is made in a situation where it 

 is impossible to keep down the rabbits, rabbit- 

 proof netting is absolutely necessary. A clear 

 space of two yards wide should be kept outside 

 the netting to enable woodmen to see if the 

 rabbits are working under it. The erection of 

 rabbit-proof netting should be confined to the 

 properties of planters who are comparatively 

 indifferent to expense. 



The distance apart from each other at which 

 trees should be planted is a matter of the greatest 

 importance. For many years most books on 

 forestry published in England recommended 

 close-planting — namely, that the trees should 

 be planted at 4 or 3 feet or even less apart — ^and 

 they supported this opinion by the example of 

 the Continental Forest Departments. More re- 

 cently this opinion in favour of close-planting 

 seems to have been somewhat modified. The 

 losses in the German State Forests from wind- 

 falls, disease, and injurious insects have been 

 so appalling as to be almost incredible. These 

 losses may have been the joint result of many 

 faults in management, but it is highly probable 

 that the most serious cause was the unhealthy 

 condition of the young trees due to too close- 

 planting. 



