84 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



SECTION V. — GENERAL MIXTURES OF BROAD-LEAVED 

 SPECIES AND CONIFERA. 



Where it is desired to plant some of the conifera among 

 broad-leaved species, the larch, Scotch and Corsican fire, Pinus 

 excelsa, Pinus strobus, common and silver spruces and others 

 may be planted These will give effect to the plantation from 

 a landscape point of. view, and afford shelter to game, but the 

 extent to which second-rate species may be used should be 

 carefully considered. The rule should be not to mix all 

 the species in equal proportions, but to give preference to the 

 most vaulable species, and keep the strongest-growing and 

 perhaps least valuable species within bounds. The oak, ash 

 and sycamore, for example, might be the most profitable crop, 

 and should be planted in largest proportion ; fewest of the 

 elm, lime, and pines, and fewest of all of the spruce. The 

 larch does as well in a mixed wood as anywhere, and it is 

 always safe to plant a good proportion of it. 



SECTION VI. — GROUPED WOODS. 



These may be regarded as a kind of compromise between 

 pure and mixed woods, and are composed of groups of distinct 

 species running from one rood to an acre or thereabout in 

 extent. As yet, systematically-grouped woods are not common. 

 Their advantages are that when the land to be planted varies 

 in quality and depth, etc., portions perhaps good, others poor, 

 or wet, the species may be selected accordingly. .Oak, ash, 

 elm, sycamore, and the like could occupy the good spots ; 

 poplar, willow and spruce the lower and moister situations ; 

 and the beech and pines the driest and poorer soils, as they 

 make the least demand on the soil for food. Grouped woods 

 also afford scope for planting a greater number of species than 

 the general mixture system does, because if a patch of any 

 species fails, it can be cleared and re-planted without encroach- 

 ing on ,the rest of the wood. Many species of our exotic firs 

 might be tested as timber-trees on the grouping system and 

 in a practical manner, quite out of the question in the garden 

 or park. Where game preservation is carried on the grouped 

 wood would also be found to possess greater attractions for 

 the feathered tribe than any other, if groups of suitable species 

 like the spruce, yew, low cover, and coppice were also 

 introduced in some proportion. 



