212 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



acteristics to the Corsican, but the growth of the 

 latter in England appears often to be the more 

 vigorous; and as its wood is of rather better 

 quality, Corsican seems to deserve the preference. 

 On poor limy soils, however, Austrian may be 

 of special service in re-stocking land which has 

 been allowed to become exhausted and deterio- 

 rated through past mismanagement. In this 

 respect it can sometimes be made to do good 

 service in re-stocking hot southern or western 

 slopes where thin woods of beech cannot be 

 regenerated naturally a task which has often 

 to be faced in the beech tracts of southern 

 England. Unless such land is not too stony for 

 the plough, it can perhaps best be re-stocked by 

 ploughing and broadcast sowing of beech mast, 

 Austrian pine seed, and lucerne; otherwise the 

 preparation should be in parallel strips running 

 horizontally along the slope. The lucerne should 

 not be harvested, but allowed to die and form 

 manure for the beech and pine, which are to 

 form the wood. The subsequent treatment of 

 such a crop will of course depend on circum- 

 stances, but the first object is to get a stock of 

 tree growth of any sort on the ground. 



