THE SYSTEMATIC AFFORESTATION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 285 



will succeed in any soil of fairly good quality, but it is a well-known 

 fact that some species will only succeed satisfactorily when planted 

 under certain conditions, whether as to the nature of the soil or the 

 amount of dampness that is present in the ground. Thus, as examples, 

 we may take the Cluster and Aleppo pines, which succeed best when 

 planted in sand on the sea-coast, the beech and yew on chalk, the 

 deciduous cypress and willow on damp ground, the birch and Scotch 

 pine on poor, thin soils, the oak on loamy clay, the sweet chestnut 

 on deep, gravelly soils, and the white beam and maple on dry soils. 

 Again, the larch is peculiarly free from disease when planted on peat 

 bog, while on gravelly soils and chalk it gets diseased and hollow- 

 stemmed. 



From an economic point of view the best trees to plant are such 

 as will produce the largest volume of the most valuable timber in 

 the shortest space of time. 



In connexion with afforestation, the following remarks on planting 

 waste land as carried out under my personal supervision both in 

 Wales and Scotland may be of interest. The plantation in Scotland 

 was one of several that was formed near the base of the Pentland 

 Hills, in Midlothian, on exposed moorland ground on Sir George 

 Clerk's property, the other being on a spur of the Snowdon range on 

 Lord Penrhyn's estate in Carnarvonshire. These plantations are 

 rendered of particular interest from the fact that in one case notch 

 planting was entirely carried out, while in the other the whole of the 

 ground was pitted previous to inserting the young trees. Further, 

 both were formed on poor upland and fully exposed ground, the 

 main object being profit and shelter ; while all expenses were care- 

 fully noted in the matter of clearing the land, fencing, draining, and 

 planting. 



Scotch 'plantation. — This was formed on a bare, exposed moor, 

 the surface vegetation of which was largely composed of heath and 

 mountain grass. The area being comparatively flat was readily 

 dealt with in the matter of erecting the boundary fences, while drainage 

 was only found necessary in a few of the hollows. Owing to the 

 elevation and the exposure of the moorland, the surface vegetation 

 was dwarf and but little interfered with. Where the heath was of 

 rampant growth burning was resorted to, and in a few patches of 

 damp ground open ditches relieved the soil of superfluous moisture. 

 Fencing was of the usual type — iron and wood — the larch posts being 

 obtained from the home woods, and the whole erected by estate 

 workmen. Seven wires were used in conjunction with the posts, 

 as the dwarf mountain sheep are difficult to keep in bounds. Planting 

 was carried out by the estate workmen and a gang of casual labourers, 

 the whole of the trees being inserted by the notch system of planting. 

 For small plants this is by far the cheapest and most expeditious 

 method of planting, and for this each man was provided with a half- 

 worn garden spade. The planters worked in extended lines, each 

 man taking his distance from his neighbour, right or left, according 



