2i 8 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



falls which do not offer fresh stumps as brood- 

 places. Like other conifers, the pine stems must 

 be barked to obviate danger from bark-beetles, 

 otherwise soon increasing in myriads to become 

 extremely destructive in the woods, and the timber 

 should invariably be removed as soon as possible 

 after felling. 



Perhaps the best distance for planting pine, and 

 other conifers also, lies between 3 feet by 3 feet 

 and 4 feet by 4 feet, plants of 2 to 2| feet in 

 height being used. While not unduly expensive, 

 this enables the crop to form canopy quickly, 

 and it can then yield good, early returns in 

 the way of thinning when there is a favourable 

 market. As among all other light-demanding 

 timber crops, thinning of pines should extend 

 to the removal of stems before they become so 

 much dominated as to fall into an unhealthy 

 condition, else they soon attract beetles. 



Where the soil is light and sandy, sowing will 

 often prove the cheapest means of forming pine 

 woods for the first time, the land being ploughed 

 and sown broadcast, or else prepared in strips 

 and sown in rows. Where moor-pan forms an 

 impervious subsoil it must be broken through by 



