114 OF FOREST TREES. SECT. X, 



plantation and care of timber is like buying the rcver- 

 fion oi an ellate — for a little money expended, we be- 

 come heirs to great fums. — In countries fearce of 

 firing, and where poles and rails are wanted, under- 

 wood will pay the proprietor triple more value than the 

 beft fields of corn, and the oaks -among it remain a 

 great eflate to fucceeding generations." Poor land, 

 that does not anfwer for corn, would be profitably 

 cultivated in wood; but fuch ground fliould be /own, 

 rather than planted. Wet places may beadvantageoufly 

 planted with the amphibious tribe, as willow, fallow, 

 iv i thy, cfier, &c. 



For thofe who may be difpofed to plant forejl trees, 

 the following directions are offered : — The manual 

 work proper to this bufinefs, may be gathered from 

 what has been already faid on planting fruit trees and 

 fhrubs ; and though plantations of forejl trees need not 

 be fo nicely attended to as fruit trees, yet the better the 

 work is performed, the fairer is the prof peel: ingrowing 

 good timber: a check by an error at firft planting is a 

 Toft of time, and a damage done to trees which is 

 fometimes never recovered. To give an inftance : — the 

 mould is often thrown on the roots of a forelt tree in 

 lumps, when if a little fifled earth were nfed, fo as juft 

 to cover them with fine mould, the trouble would be 

 amply repaid by the quick linking, and future Urcngth 

 of the tree. 



Ground defigned for planting fhould be prepared as 

 long as it can beforehand, by the ufe of the plough or 

 fpade; and if fome fort of previous cultivation, either 

 in corn or vegetables, were adopted, the foil would be 

 better fitted to receive the trees. At any rate, the 

 places where the trees are to be fct, fhould be pre- 

 Viouily dug fomewhat deep, and cleared of rubbiih, 

 perennial weeds, twitch, &c. If wet, let it be properly 

 drained, for none but aquatics can do well in a cold 

 and very moifl foil. 



In 



