262 
Plantations  Competition,  1909. 
from  the  nursery,  were  planted  amongst  the  larch.  The 
conifers  now  average  about  13^  in.  in  circumference  and  the 
ash  9 in.,  but  the  wych-elm  has  grown  to  a girth  of  about  22 
in.  The  trees  are  growing  on  a poor  surface  soil  over  the  old 
red  sandstone. 
Amongst  the  conifers  larch  largely  predominates,  being 
represented  in  every  entry  except  one,  and  it  seems  as  though 
owners  have  been  right  in  their , judgment  in  planting  these 
trees,  especially  as  they  are  in  most  cases  mixed  with  others  and 
are  thriving.  Scots  pines  have  been  planted  in  sixteen  woods, 
but  very  often  only  a few  have  been  inserted.  There  are  a 
fair  number  of  instances  where  spruce  has  been  planted  ; and, 
generally  speaking,  it  is  doing  well  and  seems  to  prove  that  a 
high  altitude  is  essential  to  its  welfare,  and  that  an  elevated 
dry  position  is  more  suitable  for  it  than  a low-lying  damp 
situation,  which  is  so  often  chosen  for  it.  Douglas  firs  were 
represented  only  to  a small  extent,  probably  on  account  of  the 
limestone  district  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  plantations 
were  found,  but  trees  making  very  rapid  growth  were  found  on 
the  greensand  on  Sir  Henry  Hoare’s  estate  in  Wiltshire,  and 
a plantation  ten  years  old  showed  Douglas  fir  with  an  average 
girth  of  about  11  in.  and  a maximum  of  17  in.,  whereas  the 
larches  which  were  mixed  with  them,  and  were  holding  their 
own  as  regards  height,  only  measured  9 in.  as  an  average,  with 
a maximum  of  14  in.  In  this  plantation  both  Douglas  fir  and 
larch  were  found  up  to  31  ft.  in  height — showing  a growth  of 
nearly  3 ft.  a year — although  the  average  was  nearer  24  ft. 
One  of  the  best  examples  of  rapid  growth  was  found  in  the 
pure  larch  plantation  on  the  Sudeley  Castle  estate,  where  some 
larch,  at  an  altitude  of  900  ft.,  made  shoots  of  3 and  even  3^  ft. 
last  year. 
Mixtures  and  their  Results. — It  was  satisfactory  to  find  that 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  plantations  had  been  formed 
with  trees  in  a mixture.  There  were  only  three  examples  of 
what  could  be  termed  pure  larch,  although  four  or  five  other 
plantations  were  very  sparsely  mixed  with  deciduous  trees. 
The  reason  that  actuated  the  planters  for  planting  trees  mixed 
was  not  very  clear.  For  the  most  part  their  object  seemed  to 
be  to  have  ultimately  a hardwood  plantation,  using  the  conifers 
as  nurses,  or  else  they  had  put  in  mixtures  with  a view  to 
utilising  whatever  trees  showed  to  advantage,  later  on. 
Where  plantations  were  intended  ultimately  for  the  growth  of 
conifers,  we  found  hardwoods  growing  in  varying  proportions, 
sometimes  so  far  apart  as  to  be  of  no  practical  value. 
As  a rule  the  trees  were  well  mixed  without  any  danger  of 
the  immediate  destruction  of  any  particular  type  of  tree,  and 
in  only  one  instance  did  we  find  useleSB  trees  planted,  nor  can 
