ON THE SILVER AIDER AS A NURSE-PLANT TO OAK. 381 



varieties during their tender years would be avoided ; but in op- 

 position to such specious arguments we can only remark that, 

 while for immediate landscape effect, and for that only : the larger 

 the tree removed the better, pvovided it be done successfully, and 

 be not transplanted to its new site in a mutilated condition to 

 pine and decay ; and such means must be employed by those who 

 desire to anticipate years of growth and progress to attain their ob- 

 ject, — still their pleasure must be dearly bought at the price it 

 costs, and the risks of failures they incur for a few years of merely 

 temporary advantage. On the other hand, those who are satis- 

 fied with transplanting for the purpose of immediate effect, 

 specimens of from three to eight feet high, will be more amply 

 rewarded, for at much less cost and trouble, and with prospects 

 of greater certainty of success, they obtain a far more rapid and 

 healthy growth of young wood, as well as a more enduring 

 superiority of timber ; and they consequently bequeath to their 

 posterity a richer and more valuable gift, in the more 'permanently 

 improved and enhanced value of their property. 



ON THE SILVER ALDER : 

 ITS VALUE AND IMPORTANCE AS A NURSE-PLANT TO OAK. 



By Ralph Cark, Hedgeley, Alnwick. 



1'rom the river Humber northward, along the eastern side of 

 Great Britain, nothing perhaps is more needed than the acquisi- 

 tion of a hardy deciduous tree, that will grow freely from the 

 first in narrow exposed plantations, and yet will not run up to 

 too great a height, and lose its lower branches, as the birch is 

 so apt to do. 



When this happens, and the tree has also lost its balance, 

 and heels over from the prevalent wind, it becomes worse than 

 useless. It allows the bitter blast to penetrate beneath with 

 unmitigated rigour, whilst it overhangs or lashes the nearest 

 trees, or overshadows the fence or the adjoining land. 



The birch, therefore, has, notwithstanding its great beauty 

 when well placed, many serious faults as a nurse-plant in small 

 plantations in the open plain, and for the same reasons it cannot 

 be depended on for shelter to adjoining fields. 



It is in its place in woodlands enjoying the advantage of 

 sloping or of undulating ground, in river-valleys, in dens, and 

 on mountain-sides, but not on the plain, unless in extensive 

 woodlands, and sheltered from the wind. 



Neither is the birch a reproductive plant, whether from the 

 base or from seed, except in a small degree, and on slopes 

 or on favourable soils where it is perfectly at home. 



