1884.] IN CUMBERLAND. 27 



grown six or eight years, they may be considered out of danger, and 

 the wire netting can be lifted and placed around another plantation 

 if ref|uired. 



The lifting, removal, and transplanting of larger trees, whether 

 hardwood or fir, from 4 feet to 12 feet in height or even more, to 

 stand singly for park trees, or for filling up blanks in plantations, 

 require to be done with care. The end to be obtained in this operation 

 is to get as much as possible of the root, with a ball of earth adhering, 

 conveyed to the place where the tree is to be planted. The pit 

 should be made deep enough to allow a cover of 3 or 4 inches of 

 soil to be laid over the root and ball of the tree. It should be cut 

 12 or 18 inches wider in diameter than the ball. The soil may 

 then be put firmly in around the root, and where there is danger of the 

 tree being wind-shaken, the safest plan is to stay it as soon as planted. 



I now come to what I consider the most important part of a 

 forester's responsibility. He has fenced, drained, and planted, and 

 it will now devolve upon him to attend to the future welfare of the 

 plantation. I do not expect that for the first ten years much 

 thinning will be required, but side branches on firs may be over- 

 reaching the hardwood ; these should be cut back, and if any rival 

 Ijranch be appearing on the hardwood tree, it should be neatly cut 

 off. This will give liberty for two or three years more, but after 

 that time the cutting-out process must begin. It is now of the 

 iitmost importance to thin by carefully cutting out the worst trees 

 and allowing a free circulation of light and air to penetrate through 

 the whole plantation. This should be continued with the same care, 

 at stated intervals of four or five years, up till thirty years of age. 

 Beyond that age, thinning may not be required for six or eight years, 

 and at intervals up till sixty years of age, when much more cannot 

 be done until they are finally all cut down. I always class a certain 

 number of acres of aged plantations with a given number of young 

 to be thinned during the year, so that both classes of plantations may 

 receive their due share of attention. Besides, the receipts and 

 expenditure, on a yearly comparison, appear more evenly adjusted by 

 adopting this plan of thinning. I manage to get over the whole 

 every seven years. And in order to show that planting is not a 

 losing investment, I herewith give the result of my twenty-eight 

 years' management and experience, during which time I have planted 

 800 acres of old and new land, yielding therefor little or no return 

 as yet. The receipts properly have been derived from 2000 acres, 

 making £1, 10s. lid. per acre, and the expenditure 12s. 4d. per 

 acre. If I take the whole 2800 acres into consideration, the receipts 

 are £1, 2s. Id., and the expenditure 8s. 5d. per acre, leaving a clear 

 net balance in the first case of 18s. 7u., and in the second case of 



