258 
PLANTATIONS  COMPETITION,  1909. 
Introductory. — The  competition  in  woodland  plantations 
was  instituted  by  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England  in 
conjunction  with  the  Royal  English  Arboricultural  Society  in 
order  to  encourage  and  assist  landowners  and  foresters  in  the 
better  management  of  plantations.  For  this  purpose  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  of  England  provided  eight  silver  and 
eight  bronze  medals  to  be  awarded  severally  to  eight  classes 
of  woodlands  in  the  counties  of  Gloucestershire,  Wiltshire, 
Herefordshire,  and  Worcestershire.  The  Royal  English 
Arboricultural  Society  also  gave  a gold  medal  for  the  best 
plantation  in  all  the  classes. 
It  was  considered  that  as  the  character  of  the  soil  and  the 
elevations  varied  very  considerably  in  these  four  counties,  the 
classes  should  be  so  divided  that  landowners  owning  poor  and 
elevated  land  should  not  be  expected  to  compete  against 
other  owners  whose  land  was  of  a better  character  and  at  a 
lower  altitude. 
For  this  purpose  the  first  four  of  the  classes  were  restricted 
to  plantations  at  400  feet  elevation  or  more  above  sea-level, 
and  the  other  classes  included  plantations  below  this  elevation, 
and  in  each  set,  plantations  intended  for  hardwoods  were 
separated  from  those  intended  for  conifers,  and  again,  those 
that  had  been  thinned  were  scheduled  separately  to  the 
unthinned. 
This  classification,  we  have  found,  was  a success  ; at  the 
same  time,  as  we  have  taken  into  account  very  largely  the 
management,  the  classification  was  not  so  necessary  as  it 
would  appear  to  be,  and  there  would  have  been  no  difficulty  in 
judging  the  woodlands  if  no  distinction  had  been  made. 
Basis  of  Judging. — We  have,  in  accordance  with  our  in- 
structions, taken  into  account  very  fully  and  have  inquired 
very  thoroughly  into  the  system  of  management  of  each 
plantation.  There  have  been  one  or  two  cases  where  it  has 
been  impossible  to  get  full  details,  but  for  the  most  part  we 
have  been  able  to  judge  fairly  accurately  whether  money  has 
been  unnecessarily  expended  and  to  what  extent  the  planta- 
tions have  been  managed  upon  business  lines  and  in  accordance 
with  sylvicultural  methods.  We  found  that  thirty  years  was 
certainly  a maximum  age,  for  beyond  that  time  it  would 
become  very  difficult  to  assess  cost  and  to  find  how  much 
of  the  present  condition  is  due  to  soil  or  good  management, 
and  the  latter  then  becomes  reduced  very  much  to  a question 
of  judicious  thinning. 
