154 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



till the oaks are between thirty and forty years old. ' Two 

 thousand of the Scotch pines and larches,' Cruickshank adds, 

 'may be allowed to remain, not only without injury, but 

 with advantage, to the oaks, till they are sixteen years old.' 

 Half of them may then be cut down, one half of the remaining 

 one thousand at twenty-five years old, and the remaining five 

 hundred at from thirty to thirty-five years old. 'To plant 

 nurses, therefore, is attended with very great pecuniary advan- 

 tage. It will not only return the whole expense laid out in 

 making the plantation, but produce a very high rent for the 

 land during the first thirty or thirty-five years ; whereas, if oaks 

 alone were planted, nothing could be gained during this period, 

 except by cutting them down when between twenty and twenty- 

 five years old, for the sake of their bark." — Arb., p. 1801, 1802. 



When the new plantations in the royal forests, (now exceed- 

 ing forty thousand acres,) were begun, the most skilful and 

 experienced planters of oaks, in all parts of the kingdom, were 

 consulted, as to the best modes of planting, and particularly in 

 reference to the use of Scotch pines as nurses. Very various 

 and somewhat discordant opinions were given, and, in conse- 

 quence, several different methods were pursued, and with vari- 

 ous success. 



" For several years past," according to Alexander Milne, 

 {Loudon, p. 1803,) the plan pursued at the New Forest "is 

 to plant the enclosures with Scotch pines only, as soon as they 

 are fenced in and drained (if draining is required) ; and when 

 the pines have got to the height of five or six feet, which they 

 will do in as many years, then to put in good strong oak plants 

 of about four or five years' growth, among the pines, not cutting 

 away any pines at first, unless they happen to be so strong and 

 thick as to overshadow the oaks. In about two years it be- 

 comes necessary to shred the branches of the pines, to give light 

 and air to the oaks ; and, in about two or three more years to 

 begin gradually to remove the pines altogether, taking out a 

 certain number each year, so that, at the end of twenty or 

 twenty-five years, not a single Scotch pine shall be left; 

 although, for the first ten or twelve years, the plantation may 

 have appeared to contain nothing else but pines. The advan- 



