66 SYLVICULTURE. 



can spread easily after being jammed in ; and even then vertical 

 notching with a broad -faced dibble is by far the preferable 

 method, for though the roots are pancaked, they can hang 

 down in their natural position and are less likely to be bent 

 and become badly malformed than in the customary method 

 of notching. For a stiff clayey or peaty soil, notching of any 



sort is a most unreasonable way 

 j 2 of. trying to raise really good and 

 / 2 32 \S healthy plantations. 

 | z IT 7 3 The customary British method 



. Place wl.e.e plant is inserted. of notching (Fig. 8) 13 to make 



'SS^X^Wn?5ltift 1 cS0*ix e ^ er two deep rectangular cuts 



into the soil (L or T) or else 



three cuts (double-notching, H- or X) ; and as the last cut is 

 made, the handle of the ditching-spade, or similar tool used, 

 is bent down to near the ground while a plant is slipped in 

 where the opening is largest ; then the handle is raised again, 

 the spade withdrawn, and the sod firmed by tramping. Its 

 only attraction is its cheapness; and any 

 other method (e.g. dibbling) suitable for a 

 light soil with sufficient depth seems to be 

 preferable even if it may perhaps cost 

 slightly more. 



Such a method can only succeed on a very 

 light sandy soil, and even then the roots are 

 cramped into an unnatural position, differing 

 greatly (Fig. 9) from the more vertical position 

 they should occupy in nursery-lines producing good plants. Even 

 in light, sandy soil the roots show distinct traces of deformity 

 for many years, and on stiff loams and clays it is hardly 

 rational to expect healthy and profitable plantations, because 

 the roots often look as if they had been dipped into a glue-pot 

 before being planted. From a scientific point of view, notching 

 is a bad system of planting on any except a very light soil ; yet 



