URITISH FOREST TREES 113 



found to be four feet ; whether greater or less distances 

 recommend themselves in any particular case depends 

 upon local circumstances and on the funds available, the 

 principal advantages of closer planting being in the speedier 

 attainment of close canopy and protection of the soil, in 

 greater freedom from branches, and in earlier returns from 

 small material removed during the operations of thinning 

 out. When requisite, it is better to give the individual poles 

 more growing-space by means of the bill or the axe, than to 

 endeavour to secure it from the very outset by means of 

 planting at wide distances ; but where there is a poor 

 market for pea-sticks and the like, and where labour is 

 neither plentiful nor cheap, a preference will often be 

 justified in favour of somewhat wider planting. Where the 

 soil is fresh and good, and only sound four to five-year- 

 old transplants are set out, wide planting at 5 feet x 5 feet 

 should be sufficient ; but care must be taken to fill up any 

 blanks promptly, as with only 1,742 plants per acre to start 

 with one cannot afford to lose any prematurely (vide tables 

 on pages 22 and 43). But where, on the other hand, the soil is 

 dry, or where rank growth of whortleberry, heather, or other 

 weeds has to be contended with, considerations as to the 

 speedy formation of close canopy and suppression of weeds 

 may determine in favour of closer planting, for 2,725 

 plants per acre at 4 feet x 4 feet effect the purpose much 

 more quickly and effectually than 1,742 at 5 feet x 5 

 feet. On dry slopes, or deteriorated soil, even closer plant- 

 ing is advisable when funds are at disposal, although a 

 judicious admixture of Scots pine along with the spruce 

 often leads to the attainment of the object in view at less 

 cost than close planting of spruce alone. When planted 

 for shelter, as a protective mantle along the edge of pine 

 or other forests, they should not be put out closer than 

 five or six feet in order that the individual trees may 



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