PLOUGHING LAND 67 



the danger of the young plants being choked ; it will provide 

 a small quantity of easily soluble plant food, and it may 

 lessen the danger of insect and fungoid attacks. 



When planting up, for the first time, land which is now 

 covered with a thick matting of grass, it will generally be 

 advisable, after burning it, to plough it over and bury the sod, 

 though there are exceptions to this rule. 



There are, however, many foresters who are directly 

 opposed to such a course, and who maintain that it is not 

 only a needless expense, but that its adoption is likely to be 

 followed by evil effects. 



It is asserted that, although the trees usually grow far 

 better for the first few years, their roots penetrate deeper into 

 the soil than would be the case if the surface were not 

 ploughed, and that, as the surface soil becomes consolidated, 

 these trees will suffer in consequence, owing to their roots 

 having an insufficient supply of air. And, to support this 

 contention, it is usual to instance the failure in early life of 

 some particular crop which has been grown on arable land. 



Now, that certain crops, Scots Pine in particular, grown 

 on old arable land, especially if of a stiff nature, do often 

 succumb or show signs of failing before maturity is reached, 

 is a fact beyond doubt. But there is not the slightest 

 evidence to prove that it is due only to the effects of ploughing 

 the land. 



When land is ploughed, it very soon gets consolidated 

 again, and, in 12 months' time, before the roots of the 

 young trees can have grown very much, the pressure of the 

 surface soil will be just as great as though it had never been 

 ploughed ; and this pressure will be far greater than the 

 pressure exerted by the humous surface soil of land previously 

 under a good crop of timber. Thus it is evident that the 

 mere fact of ploughing cannot be followed by such detrimental 

 results. 



It is quite possible that old arable land that has been 

 richly manured may cause constitutional weakness in trees, 

 and render them more susceptible to fungoid diseases ; but 

 it must always be remembered that whenever the roots of 



