METHODS AND PRACTICE 185 



three inches in diameter when worked by four horses. 

 This plough leaves a wide shallow furrow behind it, from 

 which all turf and surface growth is cleared, and in which 

 the seeds or seedlings are sown or notched. Other forms 

 of ploughs have a single mouldboard, and are designed 

 to cultivate or turn over the surface more thoroughly. 

 They require more motive power than the one described 

 above, but otherwise are much the same in principle. 



More specialised than these are the number of imple- 

 ments used extensively for working surfaces which 

 cannot be ploughed on account of stones or stumps. 

 These take the forms of revolving picks or grubbers, which 

 tear up the surface to a depth of six to twelve inches, 

 and do away with any skin of turf or humus which may 

 have formed. Implements of this kind might well be 

 used on many peaty soils in Britain, but on surfaces 

 covered with boulders, or very uneven ground, difficulties sts^^^' 

 would arise to prevent their extensive use. ^^ '^^^ 



If the precautions named above were taken, failures in ^« '{/^t^^ 

 forest- planting would probably be few and far between. si')>^'^~~ 

 The question of importance to the practical man is, can "• <■' 

 they be adopted without raising the cost of planting to a 

 much higher figure than that at which it now stands ? 

 Probably they could not, but many of the advantages 

 gained by the more costly methods described might 

 be more cheaply secured by the universal establish- 

 ment of home or temporary nurseries, in which trees 

 could be grown for one or two seasons before being finally 

 planted out. 



On most large estates the home nursery is a recognised 

 institution at the present time. But the form of it 

 suggested here is a much simpler affair, which it is fairly 

 certain would remove many of the risks incidental to 

 planting, at the minimum of expense. At the present 

 time the objections to the home nursery are sometimes 





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