196 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
out. If the seedlings are to be put out close by in the garden, and treated 
like flowers, we may, of course, plant them out direct from the seed, or 
mother bed, but whenever they have to be removed to a distance, or planted 
as forest trees, they should be transplanted more or less frequently, cut 
over or root pruned, according to species and nature, so as to induce and 
ensure a healthy growth of rooty fibre to enable them to stand the shock 
of transplanting, and derive sufficient nutriment from the soil whilst 
establishing themselves in their new and permanent habitat. I have laid 
much stress on this point, because, as I have already remarked, I fear that 
nursery treatment is sometimes not understood, or neglected, in New 
Zealand, which has been the cause of much vexatious disappointment and 
loss of good time and money with regard to seedlings sold or distributed 
from nurseries and public gardens. In planting for ornament, where 
expense is not so much an object, I would recommend good large pits to 
receive the young trees when well established in the nursery. They will then 
come away much quicker, and the result will well repay any extra expense. 
In forming plantations on a large scale, one cannot, of course, afford this, 
and with really well-rooted trees, a small hole made with a crowbar in land 
previously ploughed should suffice, and has been found to do so by Mr. 
Firth, of Auckland. Indeed, I do not see why, with some species, such as 
the larch and Scotch fir, we should not be able to adopt the Scotch system 
of slitting or notching them in when planting under favourable conditions 
as regards situation and climate. As with sowing, do not be afraid to plant 
too close. It isextra labour and extra cost both of labour and material, 
but we cannot rear good timber trees if planted out far apart. It is much 
better to have them rather too thick at first and leave them alone to thin 
themselves, even though they become a little spindly, when, however, a little 
artificial thinning should be resorted to; but experience teaches us that far 
more plantations are ruined by over thinning than by too little. Pruning 
and lopping of forest trees is now almost universally condemned and 
abandoned. I would never trust a pruning-knife in the hands of any but 
the head forester, and only in his after he has shown himself competent to 
use it by letting it lie idle as much as possible. Regarding the species most 
suitable for planting, as with the particular method to be adopted, much 
must of necessity depend upon the circumstances and locality, and in a 
general paper like this I might only mislead if I attempted to prescribe. 
Those who have experience know better than I do what will and what will 
not grow in their own locality, and to those who have not I would recom- 
mend their making special reference, stating the soil, situation, object, ete. 
Should the State Forest Department be maintained it will be one of the 
the duties of the local forest officers to give such information and assistance 
