PLANTATIONS. 81 



permit, and that such species of trees should be 

 preferred, as are best adapted to the specific object 

 of the planter. 



The distance at which the plants shall be put 

 in, is more a matter of opinion than some planters 

 would be inclined to admit. For myself, I am 

 disposed to think, that some advantages are lost 

 to a Plantation, under certain combinations of soil 

 and circumstances, when it is planted thickly, but 

 I would not either rate the loss too highly, or ex- 

 press my opinion, with unseemly positiveness : my 

 notion is, that the supposed advantages of planting 

 thickly may generally be supplied by early, judi- 

 cious pruning, and that the progress of the Plant- 

 ation would be facilitated thereby : that, in fact, 

 a Plantation of trees at a distance of three feet, 

 being properly assorted, having had a good start, 

 and suitable treatment in all respects afterwards, 

 would reach any given point as to size, and 

 quality, in less time than would another Plant- 

 ation, upon the same soil, if the method of either 

 sowing acorns, &c., or planting very thickly, were 

 adopted. In saying this, I by no means wish to 

 condemn the practice of thick planting ; to do this, 



