282 BRITISH FOREST TREES 



apart, so as to develop into large transplants without loss of 

 time, and with diminished danger of being gnawed by mice. 

 Otherwise its treatment in the nursery consists of sowing in 

 shallow r rills, and pricking out in nursery beds as in the case 

 of the beech. The planting of hornbeam offers no special 

 difficulties to overcome ; for underplanting groves of light- 

 loving species with two-year-old seedlings, notching with 

 broad spades, or in the usual manner, is easily applicable on 

 all except very binding soils. But for all other cases in which 

 seedlings or transplants from two to seven feet high are put 

 out, and even larger material is used for grazing grounds 

 and the like, they can easily be transplanted in ordinary pits 

 without earth attached to the roots ; the use of naked trans- 

 plants, how r ever, is not advisable on dry soils or for exposed 

 positions, where the difficulty the plants find in establishing 

 themselves is greater than on more favourable situations. 

 For the formation of coppice, or the filling up of blanks there, 

 good large transplants are preferable \ they should be put out 

 about 4^ feet apart after having their tops lopped, and then 

 cut back to the ground after a year or so, when they have 

 thoroughly established themselves. The planting operations 

 can equally well be carried out either in -spring or autumn, 

 as may be most convenient. 



As pollards, the hornbeam yields a good flush of shoots, 

 especially when one of the branches is left for a year " to draw 

 the sap " each time that the crop is harvested, that is, every 

 six to ten years ; one of the low r er shoots should be selected 

 for this purpose as being easier of removal than if one near 

 the middle of the poll were chosen. For shade and shelter to 

 the cattle, it also finds a suitable abode on grazing-grounds at 

 wide intervals, being pollarded at about eight feet above the 

 ground ; but where it may be intended to improve the grazing 

 at the same time, better results are in general attained by 

 wide planting of the larch. 



