70 ON PIT PLANTING. 
requires shade and confinement for eight or ten years; 
alone, the trees admit of being grown very closely to one an- 
other; as a mixture, they are very ornamental in the forest, 
and tend to break the monotonous appearance of deciduous 
trees. In planting rich swampy ground too moist for trees 
in general, the large growing species of poplar and of the 
willow, alder, and ash, should be employed, and for ever- 
greens, Norway spruce, Scotch and silver firs. I have else- 
where named the trees best adapted for exposure at a’ great 
altitude, and for a description of the various kinds of soils 
adapted to their growth, their quality of timber, etc., and the 
reader is referred to the articles on the various genera under 
their respective names. 
The distance at which broad-leaved trees are planted varies 
very much in different districts, and should depend on the 
exposure of the ground and the value of young timber in the 
neighbourhood. 1500 plants per imperial acre is usual, with 
nearly an equal number of larches, firs, etc., to be first thinned 
out—placing the plants about four feet apart. Sometimes only’ 
about 500 are pit planted, being placed nearly ten feet apart, 
and the intermediate space should be filled up with sorts less: 
valuable than the kinds that are intended ultimately to occupy 
the soil. The kinds that are interspersed are generally of 
the fastest growth when young, when they serve as nurses to 
promote the growth of the more valuable sorts, and prevent 
their getting into a bushy form ; and though pruning is not so 
necessary in close plantations as in narrow belts and in hedge- 
rows, yet many plants are found to require it; and such as 
are pruned early and judiciously will be improved in quality, 
and increased in their useful dimensions and ultimate value. 
