i9io.] Coombe Plantation, Keswick. 



359 



of cartage to Cockermouth is 2d., and to Whitehaven $\d. 

 per cubic foot. The carters receive a regular wage of 215, 

 per week. 



All sizes of timber are marketable, and the tops find a 

 local market in Keswick. 



In connection with Coombe Plantation a number of in- 

 teresting questions arise which cannot be satisfactorily settled 

 owing to the lack of data relating to forestry in the district. 



Under planting. — One of these is the financial aspect of 

 underplanting. It has already been pointed out that a sub- 

 stantial return has been obtained from grazing during the 

 last thirty-three years in this plantation. From the purely 

 forestry point of view it is in every way desirable to keep 

 the ground covered with humus and to forgo grazing. In 

 the case of a larch wood this means underplanting with a 

 shade-bearing species as soon as the canopy overhead 

 becomes so thin that grass springs up readily on the ground. 

 From a financial point of view the matter stands as follows 

 for this plantation : — The amount at 3 per cent, of all returns 

 from grazing was, in 1909, ^1,456 13s., or £j js. per acre. 

 This would have been lost if the wood had been underplanted, 

 and there would be a further charge of, say, £$ gs. (the 

 amount of £2 for thirty-three years) for planting charge- 

 able against the return. The value of the underwood at 

 the time of felling (assumed to be 1909) would have to be 

 £12 1 6s. to compensate for this. It would require 770 cubic 

 ft. at /\d. per cubic foot. 



In the absence of tables giving the returns from under- 

 planting, it is difficult to give even an approximation to the 

 probable returns, but there seems no reason to doubt that in 

 the lower parts of the wood, where the shelter is good and 

 Douglas fir could have been largely planted, the yield from a 

 thirty-three-year-old underwood would exceed this volume. 

 On the other hand, the growth of silver fir is so slow in the 

 early stages (up to forty years) that it is doubtful whether the 

 volume could be obtained. In any case, the underwood 

 would not be ripe at the felling of the overwood, and its 

 expectative value, if it could be allowed to grow on, would 

 be considerably in excess of the required amount. There is 

 also the improved rate of growth of the larch, owing to the 

 better condition of the soil, to be kept in view. It is not 



