22 CULTIVATION OF OAKS. 



Inftruaions for Xhis method of cultivation may perhaps be thought to occa- 

 ^ ly^ fjon fo much expenfe in manual labour as to prevent its being 



generally adopted : it might perhaps be fufficient to obferve, 

 that if the work be conduced with judgment and economy, 

 the future produce would afford ample returns for all neceflary 

 expenditure : it rtiould alfo be recoUedled, that the previous 

 preparation of the ground, and the fubfequent pruning of the 

 plants, are both to be performed at that feafon of the year 

 when a fcarcity of work will enable the planter to obtain af- 

 fiftance upon ealier terms ; with this additional advantage 

 alTo, of providing employment for the labourer at thofe times 

 when the general flate of agricultural bufinefs renders it dif- 

 ficult for him to find maintenance for himfelf and family with- 

 out charitable relief. 



In 17jO, at Ingeflrle in StafTordfliire, the feat of Lord 

 Chetwynd, fome plantations were formed and managed in a, 

 great meafure according to the principles here flated, and the' 

 growth of the plants were fo uncommonly rapid, and fo ex- 

 traordinary, that it could not but attradl the notice of all con- 

 cerned in the condud of them. The attention to the fubje6l, 

 then excited, has been the occafion and ground of all the 

 obfervations and experiments made from that time to the pre- 

 fent, the refult of which is given in this paper. 



The extenfive plantations of the late Lord Denbigh, at 

 Newnham Paddox, in Warwickfhire, are well known and 

 much admired. The whole has been condu6led with great 

 judgment. About a fquare acre has been employed in raifing 

 oaks upon a plan nearly limilar to that now propofed, and 

 aflt^rds the befl and mofl convincing proof of the fuperior utility 

 and efficacy of fuch management. Had the Roble Earl been 

 now living, 1 fhould have been enabled to have laid before 

 the Society fome more detailed particulars ; That, however, 

 is now impoffible ; this paper, therefore, in its prefent ftate, 

 may perhaps be thought not altogether unworthy of notice, as 

 tending to forward the liberal deligns of the Society, and con- 

 tributing to the advantage of the public, the author conceiving 

 that the befl method of raifing oaks is afcertained and flated 

 in it. 



Should the Society be in any degree inclined to join in this 

 fentiment, it may perhaps induce them to make fome alteration 

 in tlie terms of their propofal ; as, according to the ftatements 



made 



