BRITISH FOREST TRI !> 33' 



soil-preparation can be well managed by previous agricultural 

 utilisation of the land for a year. The plnnting-up of the 

 prepared soil takes place preferably at once in April with 

 slips or cuttings ; but it can also be undertaken in June or 

 July where the shoots are likely to mature and form hard 

 wood before the i>eriod of vegetation closes. Where local 

 circumstances in regard to labour make it more convenient, 

 the putting out of slips of matured growth can also take 

 place in late autumn, or in winter whenever the ground is 

 soft enough. For slips the strongest yearling shoots should 

 be selected from round stools, cut off close to the stool, 

 divided into slips of about one foot long by a clean, straight, 

 and not a slanting cut, and put almost entirely into the 

 ground with the least possible delay. In many parts of 

 northern Germany, however, a preference is given to eighteen- 

 inch slips cut from good two to four-year-old shoots, which 

 are put so far into the soil that only two-and-a-half to three 

 inches of the upper end remain above the ground. The 

 most favourable time for the operation of making the slips 

 is the latter half of February and the first half of March ; 

 but if the setting out cannot take place till April, the shoots 

 should be kept whole in bundles under cover in cool airy 

 places, and only cut into slips of the required length immedi- 

 ately before being required for putting out. Where slips have 

 to be got from a distance, they should be at hand in good 

 time, as they can easily be preserved in trenches or other fresh 

 soil until required. Planting usually takes place in rows, and 

 at distances which depend mainly upon the period of rotation. 

 For the finer species of willows, with annual rotation, the 

 slips should IKJ put out in rows about twenty inches apart, 

 and at a distance of six to eight inches in the lines (about 

 40,000 to 45,000 per acre) ; but for the coarser species, to be 

 worked with a rotation of two years, rows thirty inches 

 apart, with the slips at twelve to fifteen inches apart in the 



