8 Some Problems of Re-afforestation. 



pine, is equally suitable for general purposes. To appreciate 

 the possibilities of this tree one should see it growing at such a 

 place as Cissbury Rings on the South Downs, some four miles 

 from the sea north of Worthing. Fully exposed to the south- 

 west gales, and on the poorest calcareous soil, trees forty to 

 fifty years old are making a height growth of 1^ ft, a year, 

 their growth being much superior to other species with which 

 they are associated. 



Other conifers could be mentioned which have proved 

 serviceable under certain conditions. Thus the Weymouth 

 Pine has given a very large yield on poor healthy land in the 

 south of England, but it is now so much affected by the white 

 pine blister that -its outlook is very uncertain. The white 

 spruce (Picea alba) is reported to grow much better than larch 

 or common spruce at an altitude up to 2,000 ft. near the 

 Cumberland and Northumberland boundary, 1 and it is largely 

 depended on for afforesting the barren heaths of the Danish 

 coast, but it is probable that the Sitka spruce would, as a rule, 

 give superior results. 



A few years ago plants of such species as Douglas fir, 

 Japanese larch, and Sitka spruce were quoted in most nursery 

 catalogues at a price that prohibited their use except for orna- 

 mental purposes. There is no reason why they should cost 

 appreciably more than Scots pine, common spruce or larch, and 

 now that there is an extensive demand for them nurserymen 

 are raising them in large quantities and offering them at 

 reasonable prices. If, however, a planter contemplates extensive 

 afforestation with any of the species suggested, it would be 

 well to look three or four years ahead, and make a contract 

 at a definite price with a nurseryman, who would thus be able 

 to make favourable terms for the necessary seed, and the plants 

 would ultimately be forthcoming at the lowest possible cost. Or 

 the planter may procure the seed and raise the plants in a home 

 nursery, but success in nursery treatment postulates conditions 

 of soil and management that are not always forthcoming. 



A good deal of experimental work has been done of recent 

 years which goes to show that forest trees, whose natural 

 habitat embraces a wide area, have developed varietal characters, 

 and that much of the success of planting may depend on 

 whether one has been fortunate to secure the right variety for 

 any particular locality. The Scots pine, for instance, is dis- 

 tributed over the greater part of Europe and a large portion of 

 Asia, and if seed be obtained from, say, Scotland, Sweden, 

 France, and Switzerland, it will be found that the resultant 

 plants show very different characters in regard to rate and 



1 A. C. Forbes, Royal Commission on Coatt Erosion awl Afforestation, 

 Vol. ii., p. 196. 



