61 PLANTATIONS. 



realizing, so as to justify those in whose care it is 

 placed, in continuing it as it is. The plain and 

 obvious course of the managers of this fine estate, 

 then, is to stub up the Scotch fir, and replant the 

 land with oak and larch. 



In further proof of the propriety of this opinion, 

 I would remark that, in this locality, both oak 

 and larch fetch very high prices, and there are 

 probable grounds for expecting that they always 

 will do so ; while, if the present race of Scotch firs 

 should stand as long again as they have already 

 stood, they will make comparatively little. 



It is not too much to say, that if this Plant- 

 ation were the property of a private gentleman, 

 the Scotch firs would be extirpated as speedily as 

 possible, and a systematic plan, providing that a 

 certain number of acres should be stubbed and 

 re-planted every year, would at once be laid down ; 

 but public bodies are not so easily moved, and it 

 is therefore to be feared, that, in this case, the 

 public will not, for some time to come, derive that 

 benefit from the property, which would certainly 

 be the result of proper management. 



