Forestry Commission Nurseries, Wykeham, North Yorkshire

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The Forestry Commission (England) nurseries Wykeham Forest produces over five million young trees every year.

The strips of finely tilled and rolled soil are planted with seedling of such trees and spruce or larch, they are planted closely together in rows a few centimetres apart. Each rolled strip will have approximately 10-12 rows.

The green strip on the left of the picture contains seedlings that have been growing for several months and will be harvested fairly soon. The harvested crop is then transported to forestry commission land in northern England and the Boarders area of Southern Scotland. Here the young trees are plated and left to grow to maturity, then harvested to be used for various purposes, fence posts, construction etc.

The mature trees at the top of the picture will have been planted about 30 or more years ago, in similar strips to those shown.