266 
Plantations  Competition,  1909. 
commenced,  and  curved  rides  20  ft.  and  30  ft.  wide  were  made 
intersecting  the  plantation  in  different  directions.  A third 
example,  which  is  well  worth  comment,  is  that  of  the  Michael- 
wood  Chase,  the  property  of  Lord  Fitzhardinge,  where  100 
acres  have  been  systematically  planted  over  a period  of  years 
upon  a definite  ground  plan,  including  good  wide  rides,  with 
excellent  result.  On  the  other  hand,  we  found  properties 
where  the  question  of  woodland  rides  and  estate  planning  had 
been  absolutely  disregarded  ; and  even  worse  than  this,  cases 
in  which  the  owner  had  planted  up  the  best  land,  and  where 
difficulties  of  soil  were  encountered,  had  left  those  places  waste. 
This  is  surely  a discredit  to  the  estate,  and  such  as  would 
certainly  counterbalance  any  improved  capital  value,  which 
would  necessarily  arise  from  a good  plantation  on  a waste  area, 
apart  from  the  value  of  the  timber. 
Management  and  Thinning. — Competitors  were  asked  to 
furnish  particulars  of  expenditure  upon  the  plantations  for 
the  first  four  years,  and  although  several  could  give  details 
only  with  difficulty,  we  found  that,  as  a rule,  the  plantations 
were  brushed  up  and  blanks  were  filled  in  at  what  might  be 
taken  as  an  average  cost  of  about  20s.  per  acre  altogether.  We 
consider  there  is  a decided  tendency  to  thin  too  early,  and  in 
more  than  one  case  the  effects  of  such  work  carried  out  in  the 
past  are  still  apparent,  and  will  not  be  remedied  for  some 
years.  We  found  that  some  owners  had  trimmed  up  their 
plantations  before  the  side-branches  had  died  back,  and  as 
this  same  error  is  still  being  committed,  owners  would  do 
well  to  point  it  out  to  their  agents  and  foresters  and  take  the 
lesson  to  heart.  We  saw  no  plantation  which  was  suffering 
because  it  had  not  been  sufficiently  thinned,  and  although  it 
was  doubtful  in  one  case  whether  the  worst  trees  had  been 
cut  out,  we  always  found  that  those  responsible  for  the  wood- 
lands were  well  acquainted  with  the  main  principles  of  cutting 
out  the  dead  and  suppressed  trees  and  leaving  the  best  to 
grow  into  timber.  We  came  across  only  two  examples  of  the 
old-fashioned  method  of  thinning  by  cutting  out  alternate 
rows,  but  in  both  cases  we  wei’e  told  that  this  had  been 
abandoned,  and  we  may  take  it  that  this  objectionable  practice 
has  been  superseded  generally  by  the  more  enlightened  policy 
of  removing  the  worst  and  suppressed  trees. 
Insects,  Fungi,  and  Game. — The  most  serious  pest  of  which 
we  found  traces  was  the  Argyresthia  Icevigatella,  which  appears 
to  have  done  a considerable  amount  of  damage  to  the  larch 
plantations  on  the  Cotswold  Hills  in  the  last  two  years.  In 
addition  to  this,  we  found  examples  of  the  larch-miner 
{Coleophora  laricella)  and  larch-aphis  {Ghermes  laricis),  and 
there  were  one  or  two  cases  of  damage  in  the  past  from  the 
