On the Planting of Forest-Trees. 283 



the change of tools, occasions much delay. The business of 

 depositing the plants must be done by day-labour, as to plant 

 by the hundred will ever prove an ill-requited economy, from 

 the temptation it holds out to slight so important a work. 

 The above is a very suitable and safe method of planting both 

 resinous and non-resinous trees, where the soil is light, or the 

 surface rugged, which is the case in the great majority of in- 

 stances ; but for planting oaks and other deciduous trees in stiff 

 clays and very hard soils, which will admit of the operation of the 

 trenching-plough, it is more than probable that the extra expense 

 would be very much more than repaid by the rapid growth of 

 the plant ; of this, however, more hereafter. 



The distance at which trees should be planted out must de- 

 pend upon the elevation and exposure of the situation ; but, gene- 

 rally speaking, 4 feet is near enough for almost any situation, 

 at which distance they soon afford each other shelter, and will 

 yield some return at the first thinning. In lower and more shel- 

 tered places, however, I am inclined to recommend a distance of 

 5 or even 6 feet, in doing which 1 confess I am not uninfluenced 

 by the dread of the neglect of timely thinning, the common and 

 prevailing error of the management of plantations, and which is the 

 more to be apprehended in situations where the plants grow 

 rapidly. 



During the operation of planting, great care should be taken 

 that the roots of the plants be not exposed more than can be 

 possibly avoided after they are removed from the nursery ; the 

 prevention of this is one of the principal objects of having the 

 nursery near the ground to be supplied with plants. With this 

 object, the planters should be supplied by persons employed in 

 bringing them fresh from the nursery, or the roots should be 

 covered with earth till the moment they are wanted. It is of the 

 utmost importance to preserve the fibres of the roots from be- 

 coming dry. The business of planting should commence with 

 the fall of the leaf, and be prosecuted as long as the weather con- 

 tinues open, and resumed as soon as the season permits in the 

 spring, the advance of which will prescribe the suspension of the 

 work. During the two or three first years the greatest diligence 

 should be used to prevent the plants being whipped or injured 

 by weeds. 



In mixed plantations, and vv^here the resinous trees are used for 

 nurses, and intended to be removed, or to give way finally to 

 oaks, chesnuts, &c., the latter must be planted at suitable dis- 

 tances, and care must be taken that they be not overtopped by 

 the more rapid growth of their nursing neighbours, and that they 

 rise with straight stems. To ensure the latter condition, such 



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