:l-20 ARTIFICIAL FORMATION OF WOODS. 



where the striking of tlio plants under orJuiary pliintin<^ 

 would have heen douhtful. The expenses are higher than 

 in the case of pit planting, but not by very much, since the 

 method contemplates only small mounds. 



Where mound planting is adopted against an excessive 

 degree of moisture in the soil, the mounds must be consider- 

 ably higher and larger than in the method just desscribed. 

 The expenditure is further increased if the planting is done on 

 continuous ridges, prepared as described on page 137. 



D. Planting of Slips, Layers and Suckers. 



Plants of these kinds are used in the case of species which 

 do not readily seed, or the seed of which germinates indiffer- 

 ently, or for the purpose of obtaining at once plants of some 

 size. Such methods are only auxiliary in temperate Europe, 

 except in the case of willows and poplars. 



1. Slips. 



A slip or a cutting is a rootless plant, which consists of a 

 piece of young green wood taken from the stem or a branch of 

 a rooted plant ; when inserted into the ground it develops roots 

 and crown. Poplars and willows are grown in this way. 



Slips may retain the leading shoot or be truncated. The 

 former consist as a rule of stool shoots ; the latter can be 

 taken from stool shoots or from the branches of older trees, 

 their length differing from a few inches up to ten or more 

 feet. 



In some cases slips are in the first instance placed into 

 nurseries until they have become rooted, but they are gener- 

 ally planted out at once in the forest. The insertion into the 

 ground can be done in various ways, such as placing the slips 

 ill furrows and covering llicni by drawing a second furrow 

 witli the plough ; or they may be placed in ditches, trendies, 

 l)its, or each slip simply pushed into the ground to the required 

 ilepth. 



