106 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



Even seedlings have been too high in price until quite recently 

 to be planted in large quantities in ordinary plantations ; but 

 that difficulty has now disappeared, and they can be obtained 

 at prices which, if still comparatively high, are at any rate 

 not prohibitive. Still, even now Douglas fir is not cheap 

 enough to plant at such close distances as larch or Corsican 

 pine, without raising the cost of planting to a high figure. 

 One thousand to the acre (at about 8 feet apart) is the 

 smallest number that should be used where clean timber is 

 aimed at, although three hundred at 1 2 feet will form a close 

 plantation in about twenty years, and will enable a large 

 number of larch or other trees to be grown into poles or 

 small thinnings, and taken out when suppressed. 



The Douglas fir grows away at such a rapid rate from 

 the start that no other species can keep up with it, while its 

 shade-bearing qualities enable it to develop side branches 

 to an undesirable extent, unless planted at close distances. 

 Where cleanliness is not of the first importance, the wider 

 distances will enable the plantation to be more cheaply 

 formed at the outset, but where damage by wind is at all 

 likely, thick planting is undoubtedly the best and safest 

 method. The liability of the tree to get flat-topped when it 

 reaches a height of 60 to 80 feet on even fairly sheltered 

 ground is a well-known feature, while on situations at all 

 exposed its leading shoot gets crooked or broken at an early 

 age, and for this reason it is not adapted for exposed situa- 

 tions or for high-lying flat ground. On sloping or undulating 

 ground it should be confined to the valleys or to slopes with 

 a northern or eastern aspect, so that the effect of prevailing 

 winds may be avoided as much as possible. On flat ground 

 Douglas fir should be planted in thick masses, or in small or 

 narrow clearings in old woodland, which protect the young 

 crop until its leading shoots are level with the older timber. 

 The only species suitable for mixing with Douglas fir for 

 a permanent crop are silver fir or spruce. 



As regards soils, chalk or lime, as already said, is 

 fatal to this tree, and it fails on both the chalk and oolite 

 formations, unless superficial beds of gravel or loam overlie 

 them. Wet stiff clays are also unsuitable, and, in fact, wet 

 soils of any kind. Deep sands and gravels are the soils on 



