9 8 



spiry-leaved trees in wet and hollow 

 places. This system of planting is one 

 means of obviating draining to some 

 extent, and by planting the different 

 spots with Austrian Larch, Scotch Fir, 

 and Beech on the drier ground, Spruce, 

 Sitka, and Douglas Fir in the sheltered 

 and moist hollows, Oak, Ash, Sycamore, 

 and Elm on the cool ground, and Pop- 

 lar, Willow, Alder, and Birch wherever 

 the soil is wet. This is abetter plan than 

 the mixing of kinds together on the 

 same spot, no two of which are alike in 

 their wants. 



Trenching does not add to the staple 

 ofpoor soils such as are generally planted 

 with forest trees, useful though it may 

 be in rich garden ground, where a rank 

 quick growth is sought. Even if we can 

 face the great cost of trenching the la- 

 bour is not always to be had. I have seen 

 a countryside denuded of labourers in 

 order to trench ground for planting, 

 and the result is no better than ifa plough 

 had been run through the land, or even 

 if the trees had been planted in the sod. 

 One of the best things about a wood is 

 that it finds its own soil, and if we plant 

 closely and well, and choose the right 

 trees, it very soon begins to do this as 

 many of the finest natural woods have 

 done it for ages. Woods planted a dozen 

 years will be found to have a good de- 

 posit of leaf-soil — this is in cases where 

 the tree suits the ground and where the 

 young trees are thick enough to dis- 

 courage the grass, to their own benefit. 

 In our open, loose way of planting we 

 may look in vain for any such deposit, 

 as the grass absorbs it all. The effect of 

 the heavy fall of leaf-soil from the lower 



branches of Pines and other trees is that, 

 in hot and dry seasons, when farmers and 

 gardeners are at their wits end to get 

 water, the wood is cool and safe. 



J'fc £tft 



">t? VjJ* 



HEDGES AND SHELTERS OF 

 HOLLY. — Our country is fortunate in 

 having as a wild tree the most beautiful 

 evergreen of western Europe, and one 

 denied to much of the country in central 

 and northern Europe and a vast region 

 inNorth America,where it will not with- 

 stand the winters. In beauty other ever- 

 green Hollies are inferior to it, hence its 

 berried branches are sent in quantities 

 to North America at Christmas. In too 

 many places in our country there is the 

 unfortunate use of the iron fence, which 

 has neither beauty nor endurance and 

 is useless for shelter. A well-made live 

 fence will last three times the life of 

 an iron one ; and of all possible living 

 evergreen fences the best is Holly in 

 close but not stiffly clipped lines. Better 

 still is the free undipped Holly hedge, 

 as it makes a fine shelter as well as a good 

 background, of which there is a fine 

 example above the kitchen garden at 

 Batsford Park. In Warwickshire and 

 other counties we have often seen it 

 making as good a shelter round fields 

 as any shed. Of the clipped Holly hedges 

 fine examples are at Woolverstone in 

 Suffolk. Where land is not valuable — 

 either from its poverty or elevation or 

 other reasons — it matters little whether 

 the hedge is clipped or not, especially 

 round woodland and for cutting off 

 woods from pasture fields. For such 

 a case the finest hedge is that of un- 

 dipped Holly, because then we get its 



