THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the inseriicin may be moie shallow, and the labour 

 less costly. The last-mentioned method is there- 

 fore the preferable way of planting young trees in the 

 ground. 



The distance between the plants and the number of 

 trees that are required to cover an acre of ground are 

 vrey much varied both in opinion and practice. Hard 

 timber trees — as oak, ash, and elm — are usually planted 

 in four feet apart, on the calculation that one-half of 

 the trees are taken out when risen to one-third of the 

 full growth, in order to make room for the standing 

 crop, and that those remaining trees need the space of 

 eight feet between them. But experience has shown 

 that a full crop of timber trees can stand at four feet 

 apart, and consequently the first planting must be 

 thicker on the ground. The larch and Scotch fir are 

 found the most suitable plants on the highest exposures, 

 and even on the sheltered slopes of these elevations 

 these trees maintain the greatest wortli on the lowest 

 declivities, and upon the best grounds the oak, ash, and 

 elm claim the preference; and on low flooded lands, 

 which cannot be amended, the willow and the alder 

 are the chosen plants. The beech on chalks, the 

 hazel on rocky banks, and the birch on barren gravels 

 are the useful introductions ; and in some situations 

 the Spanish chestnut will equal in value the most 

 esteemed trees in Britain. In every case of planting 

 trees on high or low grounds, and of firs or hard timber, 

 the distance between the plants will be two feet, and the 

 number on an acre will vary from eight to ten thousand. 

 The plants of hard timber may stand at two-and-a-half 

 feet apart, and in certain -exposures the fir trees may be 

 so close as eighteen inches. These close distances are 

 required to create a mutual warmth, and to promote 

 the upright shooting of the plants by preventing the 

 lateral expansion. 



The planting of trees is best done in the months of 

 November, December, and January ; and during the 

 mild fresh weather that occurs during this wintry 

 division of the year. So soon as the setting of the 

 plants is accomplished the gates are shut, and, as the 

 fencing has been previously done, the performance is 

 wholly completed. Roads of twenty feet in width are 

 left in the convenient directions over the planted 

 grounds, and so arranged as to afford a ready and con- 

 venient access to the working requirements, and to the 

 vehicles of export when the felled timber is removed. 

 This convenience is never to be omitted, being made in 

 all cases of plantations of trees. Open ditches are dug 

 along the sides of the roads in all places where water 

 may overflow the passages, and are directed to discharge 

 the contents into a miin outlet. (3n all wet grounds 

 these ditches are necessary. 



The close plantinj^ of trees allows the growth to be 

 altogether unmolested, save the insertion, during two 

 years, of fresh sets in the places where a failure of growth 

 is seen to happen. The most vigorous and thriving 

 trees take the lead, and carry the pre-eminence, and 

 strive to reach the benefit of sunshine, which is nects- 

 sary to a prosperous vegetation. A certain number of 

 plants attain that station, and form an umbrageous 



canopy of leaves and branches that join in the contact. 

 Beneath this covering all vegetation is killed, and almost 

 every life extinguished, at least, that rises upwards in 

 any considerable height. The trees that cannot rise 

 upwards into the sunshine are killed ; and when seen 

 to be fairly mastered, are usefully removed for fencing 

 l)urpo5Cs. The lateral branches of the trees that suc- 

 ceed in obtaining the "permanent elevation die away, 

 from a beginning at the bottom of the stem, and are 

 killed progressively upwards, according as the tree 

 rises in height. The decay follows closely on the 

 ascent of the stem, and there is left on the top of the 

 tree "only" a round canopy of green branches and 

 leaves, of a small vertical extent, and so far laterally as 

 the contiguous formations will allow. The stem of the 

 tree becomes a straight boll, without any knots or 

 blemishes. The upward struggle of growth prevents 

 any bendings or lateral inclinations, and the efforts of 

 nature are directed to one chief point. By this method 

 nature exhibits the finest timbers in the world. In the 

 wilds of America, in the straths of Scotland, and on the 

 rocky mountains of Norway, the seeds are sown by the 

 wind, and the roots are struck into the uppermost 

 stratum of decayed vegetable earth — a lesson which 

 forbids the pruning or lopping of branches, and the in- 

 sertion of young plants deeply into the ground. 



The pruning of trees, or the cutting away of the 

 branches by a saw or chisel, is a mangling process, which 

 very much damages the timber of the stem. Sap flows 

 to an incision, and very often protrudes a number of 

 young shoots, or a struggle is made to cover the wound, 

 which forms a large blemish when the timber is sawn for 

 use. When the tree prunes itself by means of a killing 

 confinement of the lower parts, as by close planting, no 

 such accident happens ; the decay is gradual and pro- 

 gressive, and the sap flowini; upwards by the attraction 

 of heat, leaves the branches to a complete annihilation ; 

 there is no wound to be covered with bark, the branch 

 drops off, and the junction with the stem is soon imper- 

 ceptible ; the expense of pruning is avoided, and also 

 the labour and cost of thinning, which is seldom repaid 

 by the value of the clearances. The trees grow to a full 

 maturity, and have no attention, except in keeping the 

 fences good against trespass, and in removing the stems 

 that are undergrown, before rottenness destroys the use 

 for fencing. 



About one-fourth of the number of trees planted will 

 remain for crop, and will average about two thousand 

 on an acre, standing at four or six feet apart. The 

 other portion of the original plants is sacrificed to the 

 purpose of raising the standing crop into a prosperous 

 condition. The first thinnings are useful for fuel only, 

 being the young trees that are first killed by the stronger 

 plants, and consequently arc very small in bulk. The 

 second thinnings will be of older plants that have grown 

 for several years, and then masttned — the use will be 

 for light fencing ; while the third and last thinning will 

 consist in small trees of many years' growth that are 

 overtopped at the summit of the canopy of extreme 

 growth ; the stems are sawn and made into gates and 

 fencing purposes. The crop of timber trees proceed to 



