34 THE AFFORESTATION OF SURPLUS LAND. 



many species as they could think of. Light-demanding and 

 shade-bearing, quick-growing and slow-growing, spreading and 

 conically-shaped, tender and hardy, conifers and hardwood, 

 have been mixed together anyhow, without any reference to 

 the habits and requirements of the several species in mixture. 

 The natural consequence has been, that the more aggressive 

 species, especially conifers, such as larch, Scotch pine, and 

 spruce, took the lead, and, being frequently unchecked by the 

 hand of the forester, ousted the better kinds of hardwood, and 

 more particularly the oak. Only too many plantations of this 

 kind can be seen in the south of England, as well as in the 

 Midland counties, where the trees, which were originally 

 meant to serve as nurses for valuable hardwoods, have 

 actually killed the latter, or crippled them to such an 

 extent that they have become useless. " The nurse has 

 devoured the baby." It is indeed time that we return to 

 more simple methods, that is to say, to mix only species 

 which are in every way suited to each other, and to mix and 

 treat them so that each has a chance of fulfilling the object for 

 which it is reared. 



If one species is merely to serve as a nurse for the other, the 

 former must be cut out just at the moment when the welfare 

 of the permanent species demands it. This rule is simple 

 enough ; but there is another point to which special attention 

 must be drawn namely, the permanent species must be suffi- 

 ciently numerous to form a full crop when the nurses have 

 been removed. Many instances can be seen where the former 

 only represents from 10 to 15 per cent, of the total number of 

 plants, whereas the nurses amount to 85 or 90 per cent. What 

 is the result ? When the nurses are cut out, there remains a 

 thin, straggling crop of hardwoods, not sufficient to make a 

 wood by themselves, and they are generally cut away with the 

 nurses, to make room for a new crop. Such a procedure is 

 without sense, and involves useless expenditure. In these 

 mixtures, the principal species should represent not less than 

 half the crop from the commencement. 



