CHAP, xi.] Effects of Underplanting 251 



planting depends mainly on local circumstances. Sowing is 

 usually cheaper, notwithstanding the fact that some measure 

 of preparation is always necessary to prepare the soil for the 

 reception of the seed ; but the object in view then takes 

 longer to attain than when planting is undertaken. Wherever 

 practicable, planting can be carried out with seedlings from 

 neighbouring crops, or with two-to-three-year-old seedlings or 

 transplants from temporary nurseries previously formed near 

 at hand. It should not amount to more than about 15^. per 

 acre, if the soil permits of notching, and if the plants are not 

 put out closer than 4 x 4 ft. or 3^ X 3! ft. 



Oak, Larch, and Pine are the kinds of trees extensively 

 grown in pure forest in Britain, which stand most in need of 

 underplanting when once their growth in height has culminated, 

 and the individual stems have begun to assert their demands 

 for larger growing-space. The other light-demanding species, 

 like Ash, Elm, Maple, Sycamore, &c., are less frequently grown 

 in pure crops than as subordinate patches in mixed woods 

 where the ruling tree (which should usually be the Beech) can 

 protect the soil against deterioration. 



And even if the costs of the formation of undergrowth under 

 pure woods of Oak, Larch, or Pine should locally exceed the 

 above-named sum, the advantages of the method are cheaply 

 obtained where the intention of the landowner is to obtain the 

 best financial returns from forests that are unable to protect 

 and enhance the productive capacity of the soil for themselves, 

 but which he does not wish to utilize at present so as to make 

 way for other timber crops. Many an Oak grove throughout 

 England, and many a Larch and Pine tract in Scotland, would 

 yield far more satisfactory returns from every point of view- 

 financially, sylviculturally, aesthetically if proper measures 

 were taken for the protection and improvement of the soil 

 by means of thinning, or partially clearing, with simultaneous 

 formation of underwood and subsequent treatment of the crop 

 in accordance with the rational principles of scientific Forestry. 



