2QO BRITISH FOREST TREES 



inches in diameter ; but a mild warm climate is a condition 

 of greater importance than depth or fertility of soil. Newly- 

 formed coppices should be cut over for the first time at ten 

 years of age, in order to strengthen the stools. Owing to the 

 expense of obtaining chestnut seed from the warmer parts of 

 the Continent in order to be sure of its quality, and owing 

 to the dangers to which it is exposed from mice, game, 

 and frost, planting is usually adopted in the production of 

 crops of this species, or for its introduction as a subordinate 

 among other forest crops. The fruit, after being collected 

 in autumn, should be preserved in the cupules till the 

 following spring, and then sown out point downwards, in 

 order to obviate malformation, at distances of three to four 

 inches in rills eight inches apart ; about one to one and a half 

 inches of soil-covering should be given to the seed. Trans- 

 planting is not as a rule necessary, as, after standing two 

 years in the beds, the seedlings are sufficiently developed 

 for ordinary requirements ; where, however, a larger assort- 

 ment is desirable, they may be put out, either as one or two- 

 year-olds, at one foot by one foot in nursery beds before 

 being transplanted, every alternate one being allowed to 

 remain if very large transplants are specially requisite for 

 any particular purpose. As a rule one or two-year-old 

 seedlings are put out at distances of four to six feet, whilst 

 blanks are filled up with four to five-year-old transplants. 

 The method of planting is practically the same as with the 

 oak, pit-planting with the hand being perhaps most prefer- 

 able, and on the whole yielding the best results. Planting 

 operations can be carried out either in spring or autumn ; 

 but, in general, experience tends to show that the latter 

 is preferable, as enabling the plants to establish themselves 

 more easily, and as causing less derangement in regard to 

 the comparatively early flow of the sap in spring. 



Chestnut stands thinning out well, whether as regards the 



