Game Coverts : their Formation and Management 177 



form, as it is of a more dense and procumbent habit, per- 

 fectly hardy, and less liable to injury from hares and rabbits. 

 The common laurel requires frequent and heavy pruning to 

 keep it in bounds, as, if allowed to ramble at will, it soon 

 becomes bare near the ground, and useless either as game 

 covert or ornament. Some years ago we layered a great 

 number of this plant that had through neglect become 

 useless for the purpose intended, many being from 12 ft. 

 to over 20 ft. in height, with simply a tuft of foliage near 

 the top. In layering, the stems were sawn half through 

 near the ground, to assist in bending, and laid flat on their 

 sides, a couple of stout pegs being driven alongside, the 

 crooked heads of which served to keep the plants in their 

 procumbent position. A spadeful of soil was then placed 

 on the top of each peg to assist the layer in rooting. The 

 result at the present time is everything that could be 

 desired, each stem having thrown up quantities of young 

 shoots, and thus formed a jungle of underwood, which year 

 by year will increase in value. 



In planting the laurel for covert avoid overcrowding, as, 

 being of quick growth, the plants, even although placed at a 

 considerable distance apart, soon unite and form a continu- 

 ous undergrowth. No rule can be laid down as to the dis- 

 tance which should be allowed between individual plants, 

 this depending entirely on their size, as well as on the quality 

 of the soil in which they are to be planted. We not unfre- 

 quently plant double thick, either for immediate effect, or 

 to produce covert at once, and when the plants begin to 

 encroach on each other every alternate one is removed, thus 

 giving the remaining plants ample room for developing side 

 branches and thereby inducing a dwarf -spreading habit. 

 Having a tendency, especially when confined, to increase 

 more in height than width, the laurel, after a few years' 

 growth, should have all the leading and straggling upper 

 branches cut over, by which not only will the under shoots 

 be increased but the plants will be prevented from running 

 up into tall, branchless specimens. 



The Green Tree -Box (Buxus sempervirens) forms a 

 very pretty as well as desirable covert plant, and thrives 



