132 Practical Forestry 



itself in great numbers, when the conditions of growth are 

 at all favourable. 



Pinus Pinaster, the cluster pine, is, perhaps, one of the 

 most valuable conifers for planting either in gravelly or 

 sandy soils. The great value of the tree in reclaiming 

 sandy tracts, both at home and abroad, has been so often 

 described that further reference here is not required. The 

 Aleppo pine is a good companion to the Pinaster, and grows 

 with great freedom in a sandy or gravelly soil, within 

 the influence of the sea. Gravelly soil also suits the 

 Weymouth pine, on which it produces a fair quantity of 

 very resinous timber. Both the beech and oak produce 

 a large volume of timber on poor gravelly and sandy soils. 



(4) Clay Soils. The soil here referred to is genuine 

 clay, devoid of stones, and without a particle of sand or 

 loam in it. 



It occurred on the slopes, and for some considerable 

 distance along the sides of one of the park roads on an estate 

 in England. 



This is recorded simply to show what species of trees are 

 best able to succeed when planted in pure clay. The pits, 

 in this case, it may be well to mention, were dug and the 

 soil thrown loosely up for a month previous to planting, 

 but no soil was added to the stiff clay. Nearly one hundred 

 kinds of trees and shrubs were used, but out of all these not 

 more than eight are doing well, the others having gradually 

 died out, or become so rusty and miserable looking that 

 their removal was compulsory. First among the trees 

 that have succeeded is the giant arborvitse (Thuja gigantea), 

 which seems to revel in what is generally considered the 

 most unkindly of soils. Cryptomeria japonica has also 

 done well, but the trees of this kind, though bushy and 

 well furnished, have grown at a comparatively slow rate. 



Cupressus macrocarpa also has done fairly well : the 

 growth certainly has not been rapid, but for all that the 

 general appearance of the trees is the reverse of what one 

 might expect from the unfavourable nature of the soil. 

 The Indian Cedar (Cedrus Deodara) we have found to be 

 peculiarly well suited for planting in clayey soils, the bright 



