170 REARING UP AND THINNING 



found to require much pruning, as is the case 

 with the others. 



The disadvantages of the system in question are, 

 that the seed when sown in a detached form in 

 pits in the common forest ground, is extremely 

 liable to be destroyed by vermin before it A^ege- 

 tates ; while, after the plants appear aboA^e ground, 

 they are in equal danger from hares and rabbits 

 eating them over. They are also liable to be 

 destroyed from the eifects of rank-growing grass 

 and other weeds choking them while in their 

 young and tender state ; and in order to avoid 

 this, much expense is incurred in keeping the 

 plants clean. Trenching the ground for the recep- 

 tion of the seed, would be the proper plan; but 

 the expense of such an operation to any extent 

 is out of the question. 



I now proceed to the second system of rearing 

 the oak when young — viz. that of transplanting 

 the young trees from the nursery into the forest 

 ground, and in one year after, when their roots 

 are fairly established, cutting them over by the 

 surface of the earth ; and when a number of young 

 shoots are produced from the stumps, choosing 

 the strongest and healthiest for a permanent tree 

 in each plant. 



This system is very much practised by fores- 

 ters who have to raise hard-wood plantations in 

 high-lying districts of Scotland, where it is Avell 



