286 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to the leading man. For every two men a boy was provided, whose 

 duty it was to carry the plants and insert them in the notch, the 

 planter seeing that the roots are not doubled up, and that they are 

 inserted to the proper depth and properly tramped in. The plants 

 used were one year seedling, one year transplanted, and raised in an 

 exposed nursery on the estate. The cost of forming this plantation 

 was £3 5s. an acre, the plants used being at the rate of 2,000 

 Scotch and 1,000 larch an acre. Spruce was planted in the damper 

 hollows. 



Welsh plantations. — During the strike of workmen at the Penrhyn 

 Slate Quarries the idea occurred to the late Lord Penrhyn to afford 

 suitable employment to a number of the men by planting up a con- 

 siderable area of ground on an exposed spur of the Snowdon range of 

 hills. One wood in particular that was formed under the supervision 

 of the writer by unemployed labour is now an object-lesson, not only 

 in what can be done in the planting of comparatively waste mountain 

 land, but also by uninitiated workmen when placed under proper 

 supervision. 



The plantation referred to extended for a considerable distance 

 along the hillside, ranged in altitudes from 500 feet to upwards of 

 600 feet, and was fully exposed to the long and hard-hitting winds 

 blowing in from the Irish Sea. Previous to planting, this ground, 

 with hundreds of acres of the adjoining hillsides, was rented by the 

 farmers as sheep pasture at a few shillings an acre. Gorse, broom, 

 heath, and the dwarf willow constituted the shrubby vegetation, other 

 plants including the parsley-, hay-, and scented-ferns in abundance ; 

 while Vaccinium, cotton grass, sundew, and Sphagnum tenanted the 

 damp ground. The higher side of the area planted was protected 

 by a stone wall, the lower boundary being an iron and wire fence. 

 The preliminary work consisted of clearing the ground of all rough- 

 growing vegetation that might impede planting operations, draining 

 where necessary, and levelling over a few half-demolished ditches 

 and turf fences that had existed in years gone by. 



Everything being in readiness for straight-ahead work, about a 

 hundred quarrymen were engaged as a start, few of whom lived nearer 

 than two miles from where the plantation was being formed. They 

 brought their food with them. A rough, temporary shelter served 

 for rest and recreation, and as a cook-house. Pay was at a similar 

 rate to that on the estate, and each man was provided with the 

 necessary tools for pitting and planting. 



In charge of the squad were a general foreman and several gangers, 

 whose duty it was to mark off where the holes were to be dug out, 

 and generally supervise operations. The men worked in line and 

 in batches of twenty, digging the pits to the stipulated size of 15 inches 

 square and 12 inches deep, the bottom and sides of each pit being 

 loosened by means of a fork or pick where the soil was not considered 

 sufficiently friable for the reception of young trees. The top turf 

 was removed in two halves about 2 inches thick, and after being 



