CHAPTEE XVIII. 



AS A HOP-POLE CROP. 



About twenty years ago no crop of wood grown 

 paid the proprietor, or even a farmer with a nineteen 

 years' lease, so well as a crop of larch hop-poles. 

 • When the plantation was designed to be permanent, 

 the ground was planted with Spanish chestnut or ash, 

 or a mixture of the two, as the soil and other circum- 

 stances suggested, at four feet apart each way, and the 

 ground filled up with larch to two feet apart each way. 

 Thus 2722 hardwood plants and 8168 larches occu- 

 pied the ground, making a total of 10,890 j)lants per 

 acre. The plantations thus formed, which were usually 

 on arable land of secondary quality, were kept clean 

 by hoeing for three years or thereby, after which no 

 attention was paid to them beyond keeping them well 

 fenced to prevent sheep, cattle, and other animals from 

 injuring the plants. 



At the age of sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen years, 

 according to growth, the wdiole plantation was sold by 

 auction or private tender, and every tree, including ash 

 and chestnuts, cleared off the ground, and cut by the 

 purchasers according to specifications and conditions of 



