PLANTATIONS. 95 



twenty years of age ; but it is well known to all 

 who concern themselves in such matters, that a 

 class of Plantations ranging above that age, up 

 to forty or fifty, may be met with in various 

 localities, which stands much in need of better 

 "management." In all cases of great neglect, 

 which has been continued more than twenty years, 

 the nicest judgment is necessary. The difficulty 

 is, however, always in proportion to the degree of 

 neglect. Where the trees have been put in thick- 

 ly, and nothing, or almost nothing, has been done, 

 little can be expected even from the most judicious 

 treatment ; but still the means ought to be tried, 

 for one thing is quite certain, viz., that the longer 

 remedial steps are put off, the less chance there 

 must be of their doing any good. 



If, when the Plantation has been thus neg- 

 lected, a person is called in who does not fully 

 understand what he is about, irreparable mischief 

 will be done : he is almost sure to thin too freely., 

 A proprietor of long neglected Plantations must x 

 therefore, be well assured beforehand, that the 

 person he employs will be guided in the course he 



