l€04« On Plantations^ i^c 



3^5 



for the whole acre, much below the price of a fingle thour.ind 

 trairfplanted trees of any kind ; and tninfplar.tetl oaks, which 

 would coft nearly double that price, would be at lead three years 

 behind them in point of fize four years afterwards, b^th kinds 

 being planted at the fame time. 



Suppofmg t;\e ground, then, on which an oak wood was to 

 be planted, fummcr-fallowed and trench plonv^hed, at 2I. per 

 acre, and fown broadcail, before die laft ploughing, with acorns, 

 the total expence, making an ordinary allowance for the propor- 

 tion of the expence of enclofmg, would be only 3I. 5s. or 3I. los. 

 per acre. 



Or, if it were defirable to have the timber trees of fome other 

 kinds rather than oak, then 250 alli, beech, or elm, on each acre, 

 which is more than 2D feet apart, could be planted immediately 

 after the acorns were ploughed in, which would only amount to 

 . los. per acre more, or 3I. 15s., or 4!. per acre in total; and 

 I appeal to every one, wliether plantations, with the foil thus 

 prepared and planted, would not. far exceed in growth thofe 

 where the foil is uncultivated, but which are pitted and planted 

 with tranfplanred oaks at the rate of 7I. or lol. per acre. If the 

 method which I contend for is the bell, it furely deferves the 

 ferious attention of genclemen who plant feveral hundreds of 

 acres by this laft mode. 



In belts, ftripes, and all narrow plantations for (lielter, under- 

 growth fliould always be planted : Trees alone allow the- wind 

 to pafs unrefined through their naked ilems, and hence afF.ird 

 comparatively little flielter; but trees and undergrowths mixed 

 are like an immenfe hedge, equally thick from top to bottom, 

 -which checks the progrefs and retards the velocity of the wind 

 for 30 or 50 feet above the furface. 



Ill point of efFetl, too, ftripes of trees and undergrowtli ara 

 infinitely preferable to ftripes of trees only. There is a meanneis 

 •and littienefs in feeing the ftems .of the latter ; i)ut the former, 

 by concealing the real width, and prefentlng a thick dark appear- 

 ance, produces a mainvenefs and grandeur which gives a rich and 

 noble appearance to a cultivated country. It hardly requires to be 

 mentioned, that oak is the beft kind of undergroM'th for thele 

 ftripes, and that it will produce better crops there than in clofe 

 extenfive woods. I rather wiili to recommend to proprietors, who 



rh ay- 

 earth, where no other tree can reach. It is from the top root princi- 

 pally that this tree increafes in fize, although it will live many years 

 with horizontal roots only. This is a moft important faft, well de- 

 ferving the attention of planters. See MilUr's Dlfi. art, ^crcus. Se^ 

 flfu Hunter^ s Geor^jcs, vol. VL 4^2. (:;c. 



