AMONG THE PINES AND FIRS 217 



creased growth on the standard trees. Hence 

 artificial regeneration is the rule in most localities 

 where there is a good demand for timber. Even 

 without parent standard trees, a self-sown crop 

 of seedlings soon springs up on blank spaces in 

 immediate proximity to seed-bearing trees ; but 

 this can seldom indeed be relied on to form any- 

 thing like a satisfactory, even-aged crop. 



Planting has also at the same time special 

 dangers to face. When pine woods have been 

 felled, replanting cannot safely take place till 

 four years after the clearing, unless the stumps 

 and roots be stubbed up, as they form breeding- 

 places for the pine weevil (Hylobius abietis\ a very 

 noxious beetle often committing great havoc 

 among young woods in Scotland by gnawing off 

 the bark during the months of May to August. 

 This beetle of course does most damage where 

 areas are cut in regular succession, when the fresh 

 stumps, the places for breeding and larval resi- 

 dence, are in the immediate vicinity of the feeding- 

 grounds, the young plantations, when the beetles 

 hatch out in spring. This danger is minimised 

 by allocating the annual falls so that the area 

 to be planted each year shall be surrounded by 



