26 Establishment of Woods 



(i^ yards), only 5,469 plants will be required, or little more than 

 half the former amount. 



Planting on boggy soils. The methods adopted in this country, 

 almost universally, are pit planting and notching, but special 

 methods are sometimes required to meet special circumstances. A 

 Belgian system is adapted for planting moorlands ; by this method, 

 woods can be established upon land which is otherwise unprofitable ; 

 an unremunerative waste can be made to return a good rental ; and 

 a profit can be obtained which is only little inferior to that which 

 would be derived from reasonably good arable land. For this 

 reason a brief summary of the method is given ; further information 

 may be gained from a paper by Sir John Stirling Maxwell, 1 from 

 which the following notes are taken. 



The system is advocated for marshy hollows in the Highlands 

 of Scotland, where the trees have to be planted on almost pure peat. 

 This class of soil is so retentive of moisture that ordinary draining is 

 of little use, unless the drains are so close together that the expense 

 is prohibitive. In the system referred to, the planting is done at a 

 distance of four feet. Drains are cut twelve feet apart, allowing 

 three rows of plants between them. The drains themselves are 

 two feet wide at the top, fifteen inches wide at the bottom, and 

 ten inches deep. 



In cutting the drains, the top spit is cut out in twenty-inch lengths ; 

 each turf is placed bottom upwards in positions as shown in the plan. 

 This size of turf, and the distance between the drains, allows the 

 turfs to be placed four feet apart. They are left to dry for a 

 year, during which time they will shrink considerably. Then a hole 

 is made in the centre of the turf (by a Belgian planting tool) and the 

 plant is inserted. By placing the turfs upside down in this manner, 

 the depth of the surface soil is practically doubled. This double 

 thickness of soil, and the closeness of the drains, enables the young 

 plant to get a good start, and to become thoroughly established. 

 Two-year-old Scotch pine seedling would probably be the best 

 for the purpose. 



1 " Belgian System of Planting on Turfs." Trans. Roy. Scot. Arboricultural Soc. 



