Plantations  and  Horne  Nurseries  Competition,  1910.  233 
valleys  and  lower  hill-sides  grows  very  fine  crops  of  deciduous 
trees  and  of  many  conifers. 
At  Delamere,  in  Cheshire,  a Crown  property,  the  soil  is  peat 
and  sand,  the  peat  having  been  formed  in  the  bottoms  of 
former  “ meres,”  and  the  sand  having  formed  the  banks  of  these 
little  lakes.  It  was  noticeable,  as  pointed  out  by  the  forester, 
that,  where  the  sand  had  been  intermixed  with  the  peat  by 
“ snigging  ” operations  during  the  removal  of  previous  crops  of 
trees,  the  young  (eleven  and  twelve  years)  trees  had  a better 
thrive  on  them.  The  nature  of  the  “ peat  ” here  was  probably 
very  different  to  that  found  on  the  moors,  as  the  plantations  had 
made  fine  growth.  In  places  there  was  a layer  of  “ fox-bench,” 
which  seems  to  correspond  with  the  “ moor-pan  ” of  the  fells.1 
On  the  higher  sandstone  banks  of  the  Delamere  Forest  there 
were  remaining  some  patches  of  oak  which  showed  that  there 
had  at  one  time  been  a good  crop  of  this  species.  It  may  be 
worthy  of  mention  that  in  the  Reports  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Woods  and  Forests  of  the  middle  of  last  century  there  are 
indications  of  local  mismanagement.  At  present  in  Harthill, 
where  twelve  years  planted  Corsican  and  Scots  pine  are  mixed, 
the  Corsican  is  decidedly  ahead,  by  quite  1^  feet  in  average 
height.  The  roads  at  Delamere  are  good,  and  ground  game 
is  kept  down. 
In  Denbighshire  the  soil  in  the  plantations  visited  was  light 
gravel  over  slaty,  shaly  rock.  At  Hafodfawr,  a Crown  estate 
near  Festiniog,  peaty  on  shaly  clay  and  marl  ; and  in  Powis- 
land,  near  to  Powis  Castle,  it  is  clayey  loam  over  millstone  grit, 
red  sandstone,  and  Silurian.  In  the  plantation  inspected  there 
the  soil  is  deep  at  the  lower  elevations  and  thin  at  the  top. 
Rainfall. — This  varies  as  follows  : — 
Abbeystead,  52  in. 
Ormskirk,  32£  in. 
Delamere,  29  in. 
Hafodunos,  36  in. 
Hafodfawr,  90  in. 
Powis  Castle,  40-50  in. 
Altitudes. — These  varied  from  40  ft.  near  Ormskirk  to 
907  ft.  at  Hafodunos.  At  the  latter  place  it  was  evident  that 
the  highest  altitude  suitable  for  forestry  had  not  been  reached. 
Of  course,  altitude  by  itself  is  not  the  only  determinative  factor 
for  success.  Much  depends  on  shelter,  rainfall,  porosity  of 
soil,  &c,  combined  with  elevation. 
1 Peat  is  formed  by  the  accumulation  of  plant  remains  in  pools  or  lakes 
of  standing  water.  The  plants  growing  in  lowland  districts  are  of  generally 
different  species  to  those  occurring  on  the  heights.  The  formation  of  moor- 
pan  is  by  the  growth  of  slimy  algae  lichens  and  small  liverworts,  which  seem 
to  consolidate  the  sand  into  an  impervious  stone,  on  which  a thin  layer  of 
peat  may  form  from  the  invading  mosses,  &e, 
