AMEKICAl^ FOREST PLANTATIONS. 381 



to compliance with this precept tlian any inlicront difficulty in 

 the thing itself ; for there is no good reason why our cattle may 

 not be kept out of our woods as well as out of our wheat-fields. 

 "Wlien forest -planting is earnestly and perseveringly practiced, 

 means of overcoming this difficulty will be found, and our hus- 

 bandry -^tIII be modified to meet the exigency. 



The best general advice that can be offered, in the want of an 

 exj^erimental code, is to make every plantation consist of a great 

 variety of trees, and this not only because nature favors a diver- 

 sified forest-crop, but because the chances of success among a 

 multitude of species are far greater than if we confine ourselves to 

 one or two. 



It will doubtless be found that in our scorching summer, espe- 

 cially on bare plains, shade for young plants is even more neces- 

 sary than in most parts of Europe, and hence a fair proportion of 

 rapidly growing trees and shrubs, even if themselves of little 

 intrinsic value, ought to be regarded as an indispensable fea- 

 ture in every young plantation. These trees should be of species 

 which bear a full supply of air and light, and therefore, in the 

 order of nature, precede those which are of greater value for the 

 permanent wood ; and it would be a prudent measure to seed 

 the ground with a stock of such plants, a year or two before sow- 

 ing or transplanting the more valuable varieties. 



More specific rules than these can not at present well be given, 

 but very brief experiments, even if not in all respects wisely con- 

 ducted, will suffice to determine the main question : whether in 

 a given locality this or that particular tree can advantageously be 

 propagated or introduced. The special processes of arboriculture 

 suited to the ends of the planter may be gathered partly from 

 cautious imitation of European practice, and partly from an ex- 

 perience which, though not pronouncing definitively in a single 

 season, will, nevertheless, suggest appropriate methods of plant- 

 ing and training the wood within a period not disproportioned to 

 the importance of the object.* 



The growth of arboreal vegetation is comparatively slow, and 



* For very judicious suggestions on experiments in sylviculture, see the Rev. 

 Frederick Starr's remarkable paper on the American Forests in the Transao 

 tions of the AgncuUural Society for . 



