Plantations  Competition,  1909. 
267 
pine-shoot  tortrix  {Retinia  buoliana),  although  there  are  no 
recent  signs  of  it. 
The  only  serious  fungus  was  the  larch  blister  {Pesiza 
Wilkommii  \I)asyscypha  calycina]),  although  the  high 
altitudes  and  the  generally  dry  soil  were  not  favourable  to 
its  growth,  and  the  plantations  of  the  Cotswold  Hills  were, 
on  the  whole,  remarkably  free  from  any  disease.  We  found 
the  worst  specimens  upon  the  greensand  and  on  parts  of  the 
red  sandstone,  especially  in  places  liable  to  be  aflPected  by  late 
spring  frosts.  As  a rule,  no  attempts  had  been  made  to 
combat  the  disease,  but  one  area  had  been  thinned  and  partly 
replanted,  and  we  found  a case  where  the  trees  had  been 
treated  with  caustic  soda,  and  yet  another,  that  of  Mr.  H.  J. 
Marshall,  of  Gayton  Hall,  where  the  canker  had  been  dressed 
with  coal-tar  and  creosote,  which  had  proved  effective. 
Damage  by  rabbits,  on  the  whole,  was  not  serious,  and  in 
the  one  case  in  which  they  have  occasioned  much  loss,  it  was 
quite  apparent  that  they  were  unnecessarily  numerous  and 
might  still  be  kept  down  to  a lower  level.  Squirrels  were 
responsible  for  a small  amount  of  damage,  but  they  had  been 
shot  as  soon  as  the  damage  was  discovered. 
Statistics  of  Measurements. — The  plantations  varied  in  age 
between  six  and  twenty-eight  years  inclusive.  The  average 
measurements  of  the  larch  are  approximately  as  follows  : — 
Age 
Length 
Girth 
Age 
Length 
Girth 
Tears 
Feet 
Inches 
Tears 
Feet 
Inches 
6 
n 
— 
18 
26 
12i 
7 
12i 
5 
19 
41 
13 
8 
10 
H 
20 
30 
13i 
9 
16 
— 
21 
36 
13J 
10 
19J 
8 
22 
— 
— 
11 
22 
• 9i 
23 
— 
— 
12 
— 
— 
24 
33 
12 
13 
24 
9J 
25 
431 
22^ 
14 
31i 
13 
26 
— 
— 
15 
— 
— 
27 
45 
22 
16 
22 
10 
28 
46 
22 
17 
— 

In  these  figures  the  rapid  growth  of  the  trees  aged  fourteen 
years  is  due  to  heavy  thinning  in  a plantation  badly  attacked 
by  larch  blister  ; soil,  stone-brash  on  oolite  limestone ; elevation 
530  ft.  The  slow  growth  shown  for  the  trees  aged  twenty- 
four  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  just  fit  for  thinning, 
and  the  small  trees  reduce  the  average,  but  the  trees  are  on 
inferior  oolite  at  an  elevation  of  about  800  ft. 
