Practical Game-Preserving. 108 



Silver fir, spruce, Scotch fir, larch, holly, hazel, birch, 

 sycamore, using and apportioning them according to the 

 locality. The best guides one can have as to the most 

 suitable trees to plant are those which prove the best 

 growing and most successful in any woodlands already 

 existing. Then, again, some parts of the country are more 

 suited to one sort of tree than another, a fact which must 

 be always observed and turned to profit in the choice of the 

 main body of the covert trees. There is no doubt whatever 

 that if a thoroughly protective pheasant-covert be required, 

 the resinous trees must occupy an important portion of it ; 

 and the hard-wood and undergrowth trees be provided 

 rather as a relief from the monotony of the others, so as 

 to lend variety to the plantation. There is, probably, no 

 more difficult task than to produce an undergrowth in a 

 wood where none exists; consequently shrubs, briars, and 

 the like should be carefully encouraged as soon as the trees 

 commence to make headway. It is much easier to cut them 

 out later on than to introduce them. The young trees 

 should not be allowed to grow too thickly, and any which 

 show signs of dying are best cut out at once. 



The improvement of existing coverts is a matter which 

 must always command the attention of the preserver, and 

 in acting with that motive he must bear in mind that three 

 ends are to be kept in view actual improvement of the 

 plantation, the rendering of it more adapted to sporting 

 purposes, and the offer of greater inducement to pheasants 

 to frequent it, with protection for them when doing so. 

 On the first it need only be said that the preserver should, 

 unless fully qualified, consult the correct authorities for 

 any information he may require for the improvement in 

 his woods ; but on the second, more may be said, and the 

 chief point of interest is the formation of drives or rides. 

 The non-sporting landlord, in general, has acquired 



