74 FORESTRY WORK 



roughness is burned more thoroughly than when fire is 

 started on the windward side and allowed to rush over 

 the ground. If the fire burns badly, succeeding strips 

 may be fired, the draught thus caused making the flames 

 draw together and burn much better. Any coarse growths, 

 brambles, elder-bushes, etc., should be cut and burned 

 in heaps before the whole area is burned. 



Bracken is often the most difficult to get rid of. It 

 does not burn well at any time, and if it gets broken down 

 in a wet season it is impossible to burn it in situ. The 

 best plan is to mow it before it falls. 



In some districts there is a ready market for bracken 

 as bedding for pigs and horses, where the price obtained 

 for it will replay the cost of cutting and harvesting. 

 Cottagers and farmers will often do this work themselves. 



Preparation of the Soil. 



On clean old forest land on light soils, small transplants 

 or two-year seedlings may be notched in without soil 

 preparation; but where the soil is heavy or covered with 

 a thick mat of turf, some preparation is needed. 



There are several ways in which this difficulty may be 

 overcome viz., by 



1. Pitting. 



2. Ploughing the whole area. 



3. Ploughing strips. 



4. Stripping the turf with plough, spade, or 



mattock. 



5. By use of the spiral spade. 



6. By preparing mounds for mound-planting. 



