82 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



will soon dominate such weak species as the white spruce, 

 A bies alba, Pinus cembra, and others. Plantation mixtures in 

 this country are planted on the principle that if one species 

 fails another may succeed and be useful ; whereas such a prac- 

 tice is not defensible, because the species that succeed together 

 and the conditions that suit them, are now pretty well known, 

 and judicious mixtures may be easily selected. 



SECTION III. — CONIFERA MIXTURES. 



The best guide to go by with conifers is the rate of growth 

 in height, which in all the species is indicated from the first, 

 making due allowance for transplanting. Thus it will be as 

 easily seen, in a nursery quarter as in a plantation, that the 

 Corsican fir and the Siberian fir, for example, are unsuitable 

 companions, because the one soon overtops the other and 

 becomes the dominant tree. Rapid growers and slow growers 

 should not be planted together, and, of course, what are called 

 the " dwarf " conifera are unsuitable for mixed plantations 

 altogether. Our object in restricting the species according to 

 their height is economy where timber production is an object. 

 It must be plain to anyone that, quality and other conditions 

 being equal, the tree that grows soonest to profitable dimen- 

 sions must be the best to plant, and that the species that 

 associate best together in this respect must make the best 

 mixture, and the difference in this respect among different 

 species is very great indeed. If the above rule is adhered to, 

 the planter cannot go far wrong, and for further information 

 on the habits, of different species he may consult Veitches* 

 " Manual of the Conifera " and other works, and any respect- 

 able nurseryman will give him. information on the subject. 



Another question in connection with the conifera is that 

 of mixing the A bies with the Pinus family. They are commonly 

 mixed, but they do best separate. The Scotch, Corsican, 

 Austrian firs, , and other members of the pine family grow 

 equally well in a moist or dry climate, provided the ground is 

 well drained; but the A bies family do not like either a dry soil 

 or a dry climate, and the common spruce, for example, often 

 perishes outright under such conditions or falls a prey to 

 disease, cold, dry cutting winds especially causing much 

 damage to the tree. Inside of mixed woods it succeeds better, 

 but it is not a tree for the margin of a wood on a dry soil or an 

 exposed easterly aspect. In selecting the species for a mixed 



