BRITISH FOREST TREES 261 



late frosts is great, it can easily be mixed with sand, and kept 

 over the winter in sacks hung up in damp places, out of the 

 reach of mice and voles. Seed that has become too dry during 

 the winter often does not germinate until the second spring. 

 Sowing is confined, as in the case of the ash, to sprink- 

 ling the seed on prepared patches wherever the introduction 

 of these species is desired in forests where no self-sown 

 growth has made its appearance ; a sufficient soil-covering 

 is given by raking superficially. Where the use of 

 seedlings or transplants seems preferable in order to gain 

 some advantage in growth, to avoid danger from rank 

 weeds and grass, or to secure a better disposition of the 

 subordinate species, the choice ranges from two-year-old 

 seedlings up to strong transplants of nine or ten feet in 

 height ; but in general a preference is given to transplants 

 four to six feet high, especially for putting out singly. On 

 mild soils notching can be performed with younger 

 material, though in general pit-planting is better, the plants 

 being set deep in the ground, with a cup-shaped hollow left 

 above for the collection of rain-water. For the production 

 of seedlings, beds of good moist soil are best, the seed 

 being sown in rills, or else broadcast, and then raked in 

 and pressed down with a roller ; transplants are put out in 

 the nurseries in similar manner as in the case of the ash. 

 Planting should be carried out in spring, and somewhat 

 late when frosts are to be feared, even although the buds 

 may be beginning to break into leaf. Trimming of the 

 seedlings or transplants should usually be unnecessary, and 

 ought not to be done if avoidable, as both species are 

 somewhat deficient in recuperative power, and rather sus- 

 ceptible to damage, especially of the rootlets. 



3. RED OR HARDWOODED ELMS, including the COMMON- 

 ENGLISH OR SMALL-LEAVED ELM (ULMUS CAMPESTRIS, Sm.), 



