TENDING. 75 



there is usually (and especially in the damp climate of the 

 western Scottish Highlands) a very strong and rank growth 

 of coarse grasses and other weeds, which necessitate several 

 weedings during the first two or three years, till the young 

 plants get their leading-shoot up well above the danger of 

 being smothered and overlaid by the grass ; and besides freeing 

 the tops of the plants from strong growth of grasses and other 

 weeds threatening to overlay and suffocate them, softwoods like 

 Aspen, Birch, or Willow, or any other kind of tree not desired 

 in the crop, should be cut out. 



When once these dangers are over, careful inspection of all 

 young plantations should be made to see that fungus disease 

 has not obtained a foothold from which it may spread, and 

 that insects are not attacking the young plants. 



Osier-holts should be weeded and cleaned by frequent holing 

 and forking between the lines in spring and early summer, or 

 only a light crop of rods will be harvested. For the first two 

 years this costs about 30s. an acre, but after that much less; as 

 the osiers, if kept clean in spring, grow quickly, and soon 

 suppress weeds. 



When the young woods or plantations grow up and form 

 thickets, thinnings become necessary, usually between 15 and 

 20 years of age, according to the kind and quality of crop, the 

 number of stems per acre, &c. And long before this time any 

 nurses that were interplanted should have been cut out. The 

 given local conditions as to crop, soil, situation, and the inten- 

 tions of the proprietor determine, in fact, when and to what ex- 

 tent the first and all the subsequent thinnings have to be carried 

 out ; and to attempt to lay down general average figures as to 

 the amount to be cut outfits net local value, and the number 

 of stems that can best be left standing per acre, would only be 

 misleading, as they vary so greatly for different localities and 

 for each kind of tree crop, pure or mixed. 



After tho struggle for existence has commenced in earnest, 



