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the seed is sown in rows, small furrows are made. Between the strips, ground twice as 

 wide is left. For plantations; the seed is sown in seed-beds, which are good, even, and 

 sheltered pieces of land, about half an acre in size, and well dug up, afterwards levelled 

 and occasionally slightly manured by the ashes of the weeds, remains of wood, etc., col- 

 lected on the surface, brought together and burned, and afterwards mixed with the soil. 

 These seed-beds are usually in the immediate neighbourhood of the ground to be planted, 

 and have to be fenced in. If the seedlings, after they are three or four years old, have 

 to be removed from here at once to the spot where they are to remain, the seed-beds have 

 to be larger, especially if the young plants are to be planted out in numbers, i. «., three or 

 four in one hole. In the latter case the seed is sown generally in furrows, one foot apart, 

 as being more convenient, and requiring here in the hills about seventy-five pounds of seed 

 for half an acre, which is sufficient to plant fifty acres of forest. The better plan, how- 

 ever, is to have the plants from seed-beds, after they are two years old, transplanted 

 singly into a nursery at about seven inches distance, where they remain until they are 

 four or five years old ; this, however, requires as much space again for the nursery as for 

 the seed camp. Not unfrequently four to six year old seedlings are taken from the 

 adjoining forest, where they are generally so close as to permit of bhe removal of many 

 of them ; and this is the most inexpensive way of procuring seedlings in limited numbers. 

 Where there is a demand for thinnings, the planting of three or four plants in one hole 

 recommends itself. If it is likely that the ground get run over rapidly with weeds, or the 

 soil dried up by the sun, the replanting is done as soon after the removal of the old forest 

 as possible, whilst where the danger from insects, especially the small beetle, is great, 

 the ground is let lie two or three years first. Planting is done in autumn as well as in 

 spring, but the latter is preferred. Spruce is planted four or five feet apart. 



To protect the spruce forest against damage from insects the forester has to be con- 

 stantly on the alert, as they are many, and if not checked in time, great damage is done 

 .by them. The most destructive noticed was the ordinary spruce bark beetle, which 

 attacks the bark of living trees, and had, in some of the localities visited by the commis- 

 sioner, destroyed so many trees that, when the diseased were removed, the forest had 

 become so open that the wind would soon have removed the rest had they not been felled. 

 Experienced men are told off to guard against this danger, by going through the forest to 

 search for the trees attacked by the beetle, and fell and bark them to prevent the spread- 

 ing of the insects. In most cases, they are quite able to hold the insects in check. 

 These generally attack trees loosened in the roots by wind, known after the beetle ^ets 

 in by their foliage turning yeUow. In spring, when they are worst, healthy living trees 

 are felled at the southern margin of the forest in sunny spots, for the purpose of attract- 

 ing the beetle. Such trees are often full of them three or four days after being felled. 

 The trees attacked are barked, which destroys the larvse if not too far advanced • if so, 

 the bark is burned. To prevent any escaping while barking, a cloth is spread under the 

 stem. The timber beetle, which attacks new felled trees, going deep into the wood, is 

 also common there, and is watched for closely. For the young plantation of spruce the 

 first mentioned is the most dangerous, as it eats off the bark above the roots, and kills the 

 tree. Fresh pieces of bark a foot square, inner side down, are laid around before or after 

 planting. The beetles go under, and are caught and killed. The bark is examined every 

 morning. 



