NOTIONS ON ARTIFICIAL RESTOCKING. 2'27 



systematically and economically, if the attention is 

 given solely and exclusively, first to pitting and then 

 to putting the plants into the ground. 



The principle to act upon is to plant as economic- 

 ally as possible, and at the same time with all the 

 necessary precautions. This amounts to saying that 

 the number of holes should be just large enough to 

 enable the plants to form leaf-canopy in a reasonably 

 short space of time. It depends then on the rapidity 

 with which the species grows and quality of the 

 seedlings. Generally speaking an interval of from 

 three to six feet is the best for small seedlings. 

 This distance may be increased, if the area to be 

 planted up is very large, and nature is left to fill up 

 the intervals with any species whatever. It should 

 be clearly understood that we have been speaking of 

 complete blanks. When the object in view is only 

 to restore a species in a mixture of other trees, it 

 is enough to plant twelve to twenty feet apart. 



We have seen that seedlings, and especially their 

 roots, ought to be entire as far as it is practicable ; 

 and in this respect the utmost precautions ought to 

 be used in their extraction and transport from the 

 nursery. This condition is fulfilled easily enough 

 with very young plants ; hence these may be used 

 without undergoing any kind of preliminary prun- 

 ing. Such a proceeding is even indispensable with 

 conifers, as they cannot be cut back, and have much 

 to fear from wounds in the portion above ground. 

 In the case of broad-leaved trees, if the roots have 

 been damaged, the defective portions may be cut off 

 clean and obliquely ; and if the remaining roots are 



