Il6 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



of growth assumes importance. The older and larger a tree 

 gets the greater the ratio of annual increment. In the earlier 

 stages of growth the increment is fractional, by comparison, 

 with that added in the later stages of the tree's life, and which 

 may then.amount to several cubic feet every year. For example, 

 a tree trunk forty-five feet long, the quarter-girth of which is 

 eighteen inches, contains 101 feet 3 in. opa. ; but if in one 

 year the quarter-girth of the tree increases one quarter-of-an- 

 inch, the' bulk. rises- to 104 feet O inches 11 pa.,^and that is only 

 a moderate increase. We have seen sections of the Douglas 

 fir, oaks, and other trees showing a very much larger annual 

 increase than the above ; and Dr. Lindley states, in his 

 " Theory and Practice," that the annual rate of growth of oaks 

 on the Duke of Wellington's estate, computed in tenths of an 

 inch, was ten, which in a large tree means many cubic feet 

 annually. Some may think that it is superfluous to mention 

 facts like these, which should be known to all practical men, 

 but it is a fact that they are not sufficiently realised by owners 

 of woods, or the valuation, for sale, of standing timber made one 

 year would not be held to be sufficient for several years to 

 come, as has often happened. It is well known that the period 

 allowed on estates to purchasers to clear lots off the ground 

 depends on the size of the lots ; and we have known six years 

 granted, where there was nothing urgent, the purchaser paying 

 cash down at the beginning, but trusting to the increment 

 gained .during the time to pay interest and also compensate 

 him for incidental expenses connected with felling and 

 hauling, etc. 



When autumn planting cannot be carried out, then spring 

 is the next best season, extending from March till the end of 

 May, provided the soil is sufficiently moist. Even so late as 

 May, with trees that have been transplanted the previous year, 

 or two years before, there should be few failures if the roots 

 are well puddled and pit planting is adopted, taking out the 

 pits as the work proceeds. 



In any case, none of the conifera tribe should be planted 

 after the first, or at the latest, the second week in November, 

 nor between that period and the middle of March. This period 

 is condemned alike by the theorist and the experienced forester. 

 The roots of evergreens are said never to be quite inactive, 

 even in winter, but for all .practical purposes growth is at a 

 standstill in the case of plants lifted with mutilated roots and 

 transplanted in winter, and it is well-known that by far the 

 greatest losses are sustained under such conditions. ' 



