36 OX THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF 



Hants, and, under favourable conditions, are highly remunerative. 

 On alluvial banks, or in marshy places that admit of draining, the 

 ground is prepared in narrow flats, or "lazy beds," and planted 

 with osiers. Growing basket rods is so simple, and requires so 

 little skill on the part of the cultivator, that few remarks are 

 necessary. Before planting the willows the ground should be 

 thoroughly trenched to a depth of 2 feet, and drained with open 

 ditches sufficiently deep to prevent water stagnating within reach 

 of the roots. The ground should be carefully cleaned in trench- 

 ing, and frequently hoed in the growing season. The crop is 

 annually cut and tied into bundles according to the length of the 

 shoots. In deep, moist, loamy soils, free from weeds and stag- 

 nant water, .£10 per acre of net profit is occasionally realised. 



The timber plantations of Hampshire may be divided into 

 ornamental plantations and those grown for profit. In this paper 

 I make no allusion to arboreta or decorative planting, but refer 

 to the special characteristics of certain trees, and their general 

 effect in landscape scenery. 



The principal difference between ornamental planting and planting 

 exclusively for profit is, that in the former the crop is subservient 

 to general effects, in the latter the only consideration is the adapta- 

 tion of the crop to surrounding circumstances. For instance, on 

 the Hampshire hills, where great variety is desired, many trees 

 suffer from being placed in positions unfavourable to then- healthy 

 development. On these chalk hills it is difficult, and sometimes 

 impossible, to combine ornament with profit. No variety is 

 pleasing if it is produced by sickly, stunted, unprofitable trees, 

 whose dwarf, hide-bound stems testify to the struggle for exist- 

 ence. A more limited selection is preferable, if thereby a more 

 vigorous and healthy crop can be secured. These remarks do not 

 apply to old decaying trees, with shattered arms, drooping boughs, 

 dead branches, stag -horned heads, or hollow trunks, features 

 which are exceedingly picturesque. The blasted fir with shattered 

 trunk records the history of some violent storm ; the scathed and 

 leafless oak, with dismantled head, proclaims the power of 

 lightning's blast, and are both sublime appendages to a landscape 

 scene. But those mutilated trunks, those remnants of decaying 

 grandeur, those rugged monarchs of the forest, are ornaments in 

 forest composition entirely distinct from anything that can be pro- 

 duced by planting trees in ungenial soils. 



Planting on Chalk. — The two deciduous trees that succeed best, 



