234 THE PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



shoots and suckers when cut. But if young pole-woods are 

 thinned to any unnecessary extent, the soil gets overrun with 

 weeds, while the valuable humus and part of the plant-food in the 

 soil are to a great extent wasted in the unprofitable production 

 of weeds giving back only an inferior, and sometimes an in- 

 jurious, kind of humus to the soil. And the same is the case 

 when older woods are heavy thinned, or partially cleared and 

 underplanted, or naturally regenerated for both the under- 

 planting and the natural regeneration are artificially arranged 

 for in order to utilise the soil profitably and prevent it deterio- 

 rating through useless growth of the weeds that would other- 

 wise at once spring up. 



Sometimes it happens that old branching Oak, &c., should 

 be cut out to allow of proper growth of young poles, and if a 

 thinning cannot take place for some years, such trees can be 

 girdled, and seasoned on the stump meanwhile, by cutting a 

 deep ring round them into the heartwood. For softwoods 

 having no true heartwood, the girdle must be cut much 

 broader; but girdling is unsuitable for Conifers (on account 

 of insects). 



Epiphytes like beard-mosses and lichens, which clog the air- 

 holes (lenticels) of the bark, should be scraped off, if practicable 

 (which is not the case in woodlands in damp, misty localities) ; 

 or ornamental trees can be washed with 1 Ib. sulphate of iron 

 dissolved in a gallon of water, or a mixture of 1 Ib. caustic 

 soda and 1 Ib. pearl ashes each dissolved in 5 gallons water, 

 and | Ib. soft soap added. Ivy should be cut near the ground 

 and as high up as one can reach ; while honeysuckle, wild 

 clematis, convolvulus^ and wild hops should be dug out by 

 the roots. 



Parasitic Plants such as mistletoe on Poplar and other soft- 

 woods chiefly, seldom on Oak, and never on Beech, Alder, 

 Larch, or Spruce, can be exterminated by pruning off infected 

 branches; and osier-rods attacked by dodder can be cut and 



