6 3 8 



Forestry Congress at Brussels. 



[NOV, 



fertiliser to use in this connection. In a plantation made in 

 1904 the best trees were those fertilised with a mixture of 

 cinders and basic phosphate, closely followed by those 

 fertilised with a mixture of chalk and earth. The unfertilised 

 trees were yellow and sickly and reduced to half their former 

 numbers. Further experiments were also being carried out 

 to determine the best system of drainage. The general opinion 

 among the delegates was that the chance of getting a paying 

 crop in the face of such difficulties was remote. The theory 

 of the use of fertilisers in planting is that the young trees 

 are given a start to enable them to form a canopy over the 

 ground. From this point onwards the further formation of 

 turf ceases, owing to the dying off of mosses, the peat shrinks 

 considerably and the young plants are enabled to get their 

 roots into the mineral soil below. As the Belgians express 

 it, "the spruce eats the peat up." There is, therefore, a great 

 probability that the second crop of spruce will do considerably 

 better than the first. The maximum depth of peat which 

 could be thus planted was held by many to be about 3 feet. 



There was evidence in the neighbouring woods that even 

 in the exposed positions the spruce thrives very well when 

 the peat is only a few inches deep. A 48-year old wood, at 

 1,800 feet elevation, in which a thinning experiment was 

 being conducted, showed a volume of 4,500 cubic feet quarter 

 girth. A Scotch pine plot at an elevation of 1,460 feet, used 

 for a similar purpose, showed at an age of 103 years a volume 

 of only 3,450 cubic feet quarter girth. The superiority of 

 spruce for mountain planting was obvious. An interesting 

 plantation at this point was a crop of Picea rubra aged 58 

 years. The volume worked out at 3,400 cubic feet quarter 

 girth, which is not as good a return as a crop of Norway 

 spruce would give under the same conditions. A clump of 

 Pinus rigida aged 61 years had a mean height of 35 feet. 

 The trees were poor specimens. 



In the district of La Campine in the north-east of the 

 country, the Forest Department is carrying out a series of 

 experiments and afforestation works. The country consists 

 essentially of a sandy plain at an elevation of 170 feet to 350 

 feet, with here and there sand dunes, both moving and fixed. | 

 The soil is very poor, especially in lime, nitrogen, and j 



