PLANTING. 53 



all other circumstances being 1 equal, will be found to vary but little, if any. 

 But where the difference in the proportions of the ingredients is found so 

 great as exists between the sandy loam No. 3, arid the poor sandy soil 

 No. 2, or, in a wood as between any two of the soils now attempted to 

 be described from practical experience in their culture, as well as from a 

 careful chemical examination of their properties and constitution, a very 

 marked and decisive difference will be found in the comparative produce 

 of timber, and in the peculiar species or kinds of trees which should have 

 been planted in the greatest number, or in preference to others. 



CHAPTER V. 



Of the most approved Modes of preparing different Soils for the reception 

 of the Plaids Fencing, Draining, Ploughing, Trenching. Of the for- 

 mation of Rides or Carriage-Ways into the interior of Plantations. O 

 the best Mode of covering these with Herbage. 



IN no improvement of landed property is economy in the first outlay of 

 capital more essentially required than in forest planting. Want of attention 

 to this important point has caused much loss to the country as well as to 

 individuals, it having had the effect of discouraging forest planting- generally, 

 and more particularly of those lands emphatically termed wastes. The evil 

 is perpetuated by statements confounding- the expenses of planting different 

 descriptions of land, such as that of a superior soil immediately connected 

 perhaps with a mansion, and that of a distant hill or waste heath. In the 

 former case the return of produce is early, great, and fully ample for every 

 expense judiciously incurred in the plantation ; while, at the same time, 

 something* must be allowed for obtaining' the more immediate ornamental 

 effect of wood. In the latter case the returns of profit are more distant, 

 though equally certain, and the outlay of capital or expense of formation 

 proportionally less. To estimate or make them equal to those of the first 

 description of land, would be absurd, because unnecessary, and, in fact, 

 impracticable, as in the case of rocky sites or thin heath soils, where the 

 more expensive processes of the preparations of soils cannot be carried 

 into effect. To say, therefore, that land cannot be profitably planted 

 under a first outlay of ten pounds sterling an acre, or that the expense of 

 planting should not exceed two, or at most three, is equally erroneous ; 

 although both statements, individually with reference to local circumstances, 

 may be perfectly true and accurate. 



Fencing is one of the most expensive but essential concomitants of 

 planting; for unless young trees are completely protected by proper 

 fences, extensive failure will be the certain consequence. 



In general the materials fit for constructing plantation fences may be 

 found on the spot. On sandy heath soils, the turf interwoven with the 

 roots of heath or coarse herbage affords a ready and cheap material. We 

 have seen a wall or dyke, built entirely of turf, last for a great number of 

 years without wanting any repairs whatever. The turfs were cut to the 

 depth of from three to five inches; according to the depth they were per- 

 vaded with the tough roots of grasses and heath, which tend to keep them 

 firm and less assailable by the weather. This wall of turf was two feet 

 wide at the foundation, and four feet and a half high, terminating at sixteen 

 inches in thickness at the top. The turfs were built in rows alternately 

 edgeways, and flat with the turf side downwards. The coping consisted 

 of a row of turfs laid with the grass side upwards, and this continued per- 

 manent for many years. When the soil is clayey, or of a texture liable to 



