P L A 



463 



PL A 



ailopted ; if clay, the oak ; if rich loam, plant for merely ornamental purposes; 

 the elm. In moist situations, the akler, and It is because all timber trees con- 

 sallow, and willow; and in mountain, tain phospliate of lime in very con- 

 and dry soiled districts, all the hardy siderabic proportions, that crushed 

 conifera;, the bircli and the ash. Peat, bones are found to be so excellent a 

 if well drained, wdi bear the Scotch fir; fertilizer for them ; and hence one rea- 

 and the Spanish chestnut will flourisli son, why it has long been a well-known 

 on light sheltereil loam. On the poor- fact, that by burying dead animals un- 

 est and lightest soils, if well drained, ! der trees nearly exhausted for want of 

 the larch will establish itself. Similar nourishment, those trees will almost 

 attention must be paid to the soil in : invariably be considerably revived, and 

 locating the shrubs. Rhododendrons \ send out their shoots with unusual vi- 

 delight in shade and leaf-mould; and [ gour ; and how essential the presence 

 others have their particular soils, of i of phosphate of lime is to their growth, 

 which information will be found in other may be judged of from the fact, that 

 pages, under their appropriate titles. ' this salt constitutes 45 per cent, of the 

 Manures. — Trees, like all other ashes of the oak; 35 in those of the 

 plants, are benefited by being appro- hazel; 16.75 of the poplar; 23 in the 

 priately manured; their growth is thus hornbeam; 12 per cent, in those of the 

 accelerated, and contrary to old opin- fir. 



ions, it is found that the wood of These chemical examinations natu- 

 quickly-growing trees is more durable, rally support the conclusion to which I 

 and more tough than that of trees of have long come in my own experiments, 

 the same species which have vegetated that in all plantations of timber trees, 

 more tardily. Calcareous matter is al- both on the score of profit and of orna- 

 ways required by trees; and my brother, ' ment, it is in almost all situations de- 

 Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, has truly stated sirable to assist the growth of the young 

 that on the poor hungry heath lands, trees by a sinall addition of manure, 

 such as those of Norfolk, Surrey, and 1 On a large scale this must be chiefly 

 the north, which contain hardly a trace confined to the use of the earths, either 



of carbonate of lime, they find that, by 

 dressing with chalk or marl, land in- 

 tended for planting, the growth of the 



lime, chalk, or marl, according to their 

 respective local value ; and for this 

 purpose a smaller proportion per acre 



trees is very materially increased; and j of any kind of manure is of much great- 

 more recently, as in the forest of Dama- 1 er value than is commonly supposed, 

 way in Scotland, the planters have I I have usually, under every plant, mere- 

 found the greatest advantage from plac- | ly applied a small shovelful of tolerably- 

 ing only a handful of lime (about four rotted stable dung, stirring it up with 

 bushels per acre is sufficient) in the soil the mould ; and, as these experiments 

 under the plants. By this means the were principally made on a poor hungry 

 young trees, they say, are forced for- gravelly soil, nearly destitute of carbon- 

 ward ; that is, they are supplied with ate of lime, I have usually added to the 

 the carbonate of lime at the very period ' beach plants, instead of the farm-yard 

 of their growth, when their roots, from manure, a small quantity of chalk, 

 want of extent and vigour, are least j Trenching. — In preparing the land 

 able to absorb from the soil the portion for plantations, the same chemical ex- 

 ofthis earth so essential for their healthy ! amination of the composition well illus- 

 growth. And it is precisely such heath tratcs the advantages derived by the 

 soils as those to which I have alluded ! plant, from merely previously stirring 

 as being so materially benefited by the I the soil ; since it is evident that when 

 application of lime, chalk, or marl the constituents of the young trees are 

 (which also contains chalk), that are ' contained in it in only very limited pro- 



found, when examined in their natural 

 state, to be nearly destitute of carbon- 

 ate of lime. 



It is for the same reasons that, in 

 the early state of their growth, timber 

 plantations are benefited so materially 

 by being manured with organic mat- 

 ters — a fact well known to those who 



portions, in such case the more easily 

 their roots arc enabled to penetrate in 

 search of that necessary nourishment, 

 the more rapid will be their growth. 



Previous trenching of the soil also 

 conduces to the healthy growth of trees 

 in more ways than one. It renders 

 them less subject to injury from want 



