62 SYLVICULTURE. 



per acre, depends both on the soil and the kind of tree, and 

 also on the prospect there is of being able to dispose profitably 

 of young thinnings. Wide planting usually means expensive 

 cleaning and weeding in young plantations ; but there is no 

 use in incurring the heavier expense of close planting if a 

 somewhat wider distance will practically answer equally well, 

 unless a good local market for early thinnings promises a fair 

 return. The best distance, therefore, depends to a great extent 

 upon the size of the plants used ; and this again depends on 

 the nature of the soil and the situation. As a rule, it is best 

 to use 2-year-2 plants and to set them about 4x4 ft. apart 

 (2722 per acre). This may be taken as the average distance for 

 "pitting" or "holing," as it allows the plantations to grow up 

 to from fifteen to twenty years without a first thinning being 

 needed. But where two-year seedlings can be dibbled or 

 notched on light soil, the cheapest form of planting, they can 

 be put in at about 3J x 3J ft. (3556 per acre), or on a very poor 

 soil and an exposed situation at 3 x 3 ft. (4840). Unnecessarily 

 close planting, besides being dearer, also tends to draw up the 

 young stems in a too crowded condition and makes early thinning 

 imperative, perhaps before there is any market for small mate- 

 rial ; while wide planting tends to make the young poles 

 branching and rough until they form close canopy. Hence the 

 probability of successful growth, the cost of planting, and the 

 probable profit from early thinnings are all important points to 

 be considered in fixing the planting distance. Shade-enduring 

 trees can be planted closest ; but among these the Douglas Fir, 

 owing to its rapid growth at first, need not be planted closer 

 than 4J x 4J ft. (2151 per acre) or even 5x5 ft. (1742 per 

 acre), unless there is a good market for young thinnings. For 

 a very light or sandy soil, dibbling and notching at 3 or 3J ft. 

 are certainly the quickest and cheapest methods of planting ; 

 but on stiffish land, " hole-and-plug " planting with a C-conical 

 spade, or pit-planting at about 4 ft., either with ball-plants 



