Plantations and Home Nurseries Competition, 1913. 291 
necessarily reflect the greatest credit on the management, and, 
when special difficulties relating to soil, situation, pests, &c., 
have to be overcome, the final result is often more creditable 
to those who have had to tackle these problems than in cases 
where all the conditions were specially favourable. 
It is to be hoped that in future more entries will be obtained 
from those who are attempting to apply “systematic manage- 
ment of a woodland area, including the renovation and 
conversion of an unprofitable wood into a profitable condition.” 
Rather than confining ourselves to unlimited praise, it is 
better in a report to point to mistakes, so that these can be 
prevented in future. Previous reports have dwelt on common 
mistakes which are made in planting, and it is the more 
important again to emphasise them since these are so general, 
but it must not be thought that they apply particularly to the 
entries in this competition. The most common mistake is that 
of planting Scots pine without sufficient consideration for the 
ultimate result and the effect on the remainder of the crop. 
Scots pine has been called the “ last resort of the forester,” and 
it seems to justify this reputation. We hear frequent warnings 
against planting trees which are called “ exotics,” and certainly 
caution is necessary with a tree that has not been sufficiently 
tested. As far as England is concerned, however, it is doubtful 
if in the future we shall lose as much money or obtain such 
poor results from so-called/ 4 exotics ” as we have done in the 
past by planting Scots pine in all kinds of unsuitable mixtures, 
on all sorts of soils (many of which would produce far more 
valuable trees), and the ultimate result being to produce 
knotty and iuferior timber. The value of the timber of 
Scots pine — especially that grown in England — must, in any 
case, in the future be poor in comparison with such timber as 
ash, Spanish chestnut, and other of our hardwoods, which 
deserve far more attention than they receive. 
Another common mistake — also referred to by previous 
Judges — is that of attempting to produce oak by planting the 
trees at 12 ft. or more apart, and filling in with so-called 
nurses. Unless these mixtures receive constant attention and 
supervision the “ nurse ” often consumes the “ child ” ; but, 
apart from this, there are other obvious objections. In the 
production of oak the survival of the fittest is most important, 
and the difference in vigour and character of oak saplings can 
be seen wherever there is a crop to inspect. When planted at 
a large distance apart almost each individual tree has to be 
relied on for the final crop, and this is most unwise with a tree 
where considerable selection is so necessary. 
The origin of this mistake probably lies in imagining that 
all trees should be treated alike. Larch, for instance, lends 
