BRITISH FOREST TKI 341 



it is not convenient to underplant with shade-bearing 

 trees. When it is coppiced with a rotation of three to six 

 years, it shoots freely from the stool. 



Hawthorn, which furnishes the commonest, best, and most 

 beautiful of hedges, thrives on all classes of soil, but attains 

 its best growth on such as are of limy or marly composition. 

 Hedges can be formed by planting out self sown seedlings. 

 though in general much better results are obtained by the use 

 of transplants. The haws are sown in rills eight inches apart. 

 and with half to three-quarters of an inch of soil cover- 

 ing, on limy soil in autumn ; the seeds germinate sometimes 

 in the following spring, sometimes not until the second 

 spring after they ripen. Where the soil is deficient in lime. 

 marl should be added if it can conveniently be got in the 

 neighbourhood, as it materially improves the seedlings in their 

 development. The seed-beds should be covered with dry 

 pine needles or broad-leaved foliage, over which straw and a 

 few jK)les should be laid to prevent this being blown away 

 during the winter; in spring this covering should be re 

 moved almost entirely if germination appears to be taking 

 place, but if not it should be replaced till the following 

 spring. Another method is to mix the seed with earth in 

 boxes buried in ditches, &c., and to sow it out in rills, with a 

 soil-covering of half an inch, during the second autumn or 

 spring following the ripening. When the seedlings are two- 

 year-old, the tap-root is trimmed and the plants pricked out 

 in rows of eight inches by four inches on the nursery-beds, 

 where they are allowed to stand for two years before being 

 transplanted for the formation of hedgerows. 



Sea-buckthorn is of interest as being one of the first sp. 

 of shrubs of woodland growth to occur spontaneously on 

 sand-banks thrown up by n , 



Holly is often a troublesome wei d on good soils when re- 

 production of Other species is taking place, but it disappears 



