Plantations  Competition,  1909. 
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northern  aspect,  the  benefits  that  accrue  to  young  plantations 
from  the  circulation  of  air,  the  northerly  slope,  and  the  general 
absence  of  wet,  stagnant  land,  more  than  counterbalance  the 
high  altitudes  of  the  hill-tops.  Where  owners  can  get  these 
favourable  conditions  they  would  be  well-advised  to  plant, 
more  particularly  if  they  mix  their  species. 
Aspect  and  its  Effect. — We  found  considerable  variation  in 
aspect,  but  as  a rule  land  had  not  been  planted  with  a southern 
aspect  unless  with  the  object  of  replanting  old  woodlands  or 
covering  a bank.  Out  of  the  twenty-seven  entries,  eleven 
faced  north,  north-east  or  north-west,  or  principally  so,  and  it 
is  noticeable  that  out  of  the  eleven  prizes  awarded  seven  of 
them  were  amongst  the  plantations  with  the  northerly  aspect 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in  awarding  the  prizes  credit  was 
given  to  owners  who  had  been  obliged  to  plant  unfavourable 
sites. 
Trees  Suitable  to  Land. — Amongst  the  various  trees  included 
in  the  plantations  we  found  that  the  deciduous  were  represented 
by  oak,  ash,  beech,  sycamore,  wych-elm,  sweet  chestnut,  and  a 
few  birch  here  and  thei’e.  The  conifers  were  chiefly  larch, 
Scots  pine,  spruce,  Douglas  fir,  Corsican  pine,  Austrian  pine, 
and  a few  other  varieties  in  small  quantities.  In  the  hard- 
woods we  found  that  the  beech  was  the  favourite  tree,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  well  chosen,  for  we  saw  more 
than  one  example  where  it  was  able  to  hold  its  own  against 
other  trees  in  a mixture,  and  was  growing  into  timber  as  fast 
as  the  larch.  We  were  particularly  struck  by  the  vigour  of  the 
sycamore  upon  the  Cotswolds.  It  seems  to  grow  with  greater 
rapidity  than  any  other  hardwood,  and  give  promise  of  being 
a very  useful  tree  to  be  used  in  mixture  with  conifers.  Its 
merits  do  not  at  present  seem  to  be  very  fully  recognised, 
possibly  because  it  is  not  valuable  in  the  pole  stage  ; but  we 
found  it  represented  in  seven  plantations,  whereas  the  beech 
had  been  planted  in  fourteen.  On  comparing  the  measurements 
of  the  two,  the  advantage  of  the  sycamore  can  be  seen  more 
clearly.  On  the  oolite  in  a plantation  eleven  years  old,  the 
beech  averaged  about  9 ft.  high  and  the  sycamore  about  17  ft. 
In  another  case  on  a similar  soil  in  a plantation  twenty-five 
years  old,  the  sycamore  were  about  40  ft.  high  with  a circum- 
ference of  19  in.,  and  the  beech  about  38  ft.  high  with  a 
circumference  of  about  10^  in.  Again,  in  a plantation  fourteen 
years  old,  the  sycamore  were  about  25  ft.  in  height,  and  the 
beech  about  18. 
Another  example  of  a tree  that  showed  unusual  rapidity  of 
growth  was  the  wych-elm  upon  the  Saltmarshe  Castle  estate. 
Here  the  plantation  was  first  commenced  about  twenty  years 
ago.  Five  years  afterwards  some  deciduous  trees,  being  culls 
