234 Practical Forestry 



manure, the former preferably, will greatly assist the 

 growth of the young plants and prevent too speedy eva- 

 poration of moisture from the soil. Young plants are not 

 offered in quantity in our nursery catalogues, and in order 

 to obtain a stock sufficient to form a plantation, seed-sowing 

 or layering old plants must be resorted to. Fortunately, 

 by either method the plant is readily obtained in quantity, 

 and as the seeds are produced in fair abundance and ripen 

 freely this method of getting up a stock is to be recom- 

 mended. 



The berries, after being collected in the early winter, are 

 treated much as we treat those of the yew and holly. They 

 are mixed with sand in order to separate the seed and fleshy 

 covering, and the whole is sown during early spring in pre- 

 viously prepared beds. The seed beds may be prepared in any 

 shady situation out of doors, the soil being largely composed 

 of light sandy loam mixed with finely riddled leaf -mould. 

 Sometimes the seeds are sown in boxes and placed in a cool 

 frame, but we have found cultivation out of doors more 

 satisfactory. When two years old, the seedlings should 

 be transplanted into lines 18 in. apart and 9 in. from plant 

 to plant. Here they may remain for another two years, 

 after which they should be planted out permanently and 

 headed back the following season. Rather thick final 

 planting is to be recommended, as the shrub being of upright 

 growth, requires comparatively small room for develop- 

 ment, and the best wands are produced by a close order of 

 growth, say 5 ft. from plant to plant. 



Layering does not produce such upright-habited shrubs 

 as those grown from seed, and the yield of wood per acre 

 under exactly similar conditions of growth is greatly in favour 

 of seedlings. 



After planting, the ground should be kept free from rough- 

 growing seeds for the first two years, the crop being cut at 

 from six to seven years' growth, when the wands are from 

 1 J in. to 2 in. diameter at butt end. Cutting and bundling 

 is usually done by contract, but, as with the osier, it is 

 imperative that the crop be cut over near ground level and 

 short " stumps " without " spurs " encouraged. 



