ON THE NATURALIZATION OF PLANTS. ]55 



In Fofter's account of Cook's fecond voyage, it is men- Instances of 

 tioned, that the trees on New Zealand were growing fo clofe ^^ fo^the'lea 

 to the edge of the water, that the fliip's mails were entangled where fheltered. 

 among their branches ; and in particular fituations the fame 

 proximity of trees to the fea might be obferved in various lati- 

 tudes. At Fairhead, the mod northerly extremity of Ireland, 

 and expofed to the fury of the northern ocean, the forbus 

 aucuparia {mountain afb), betula alba (birch), quercus robur 

 (oak), with other indigenous trees, grow luxuriantly within 

 15 or 20 yards of high-water-mark. The reafon of this ap-, 

 pears to be that they grow upon the lower part of very high 

 land, which caufes an eddy to be formed about them when 

 the wind blows from the fea ; and by the fame high land they 

 are protected from the fouth and fouthweft winds. 



On the top of the rocks the wind rages with the greater} As plantations 



fury, even the grafs feeming blighted, whereas below the j£" v f ne J5 * hc 



rocks every plant appears in a thriving irate, and fome houfes ed, it is proper 



fituated on the lower part never have their thatched roofs dif- . t0 1 be f ih . t0 P 1 ;" 1 * 

 , , , i n T i it n in l and » in order 



turbea by the ltorms. In every other part along the coaft that the firft 



where land is of the fame form it is covered with thriving trees may pro- 

 wood, but where the land is nearly level for a length of way t jj e coa ft . 

 inland no wood appears, and every hedge is feen never to rife 

 higher than the top of the bank which protects it from the wind. 

 Therefore in order to plant near the fea on a low fhore, it is 

 neceffary to commence the plantations a confiderable way in- 

 land, and to allow the young trees to have others feveral feet 

 taller than themfelves behind them : thefe will have the fame 

 effect as high land, for by means of the oppofition offered by 

 innumerable Items and branches the force of the wind will be 

 greatly leffened ; as we may find by Handing on the windward 

 fide of a thick wood during a ftorm, where, if the trees are 

 lofty, the wind is much lefs violent than on an open 4 plain. In 

 water the effect of this kind of oppofition is vifible, for if into 

 the bed of a fwift itream we drive a number of flakes, the 

 water, although it continues to flow, yet has its velocity dimi- 

 nithed confiderably. 



Our firft plantations in an expofed place ought always to and the firft 

 be of fuch trees as are natives of mountains for thefe are plantations 

 fitted by nature to bear the rude blafts of winter, and by the natives of moun- 

 ftiffnefs of their leaves, or flexibility of their footftalks, to re- tains 



main 





