SO THE PRACTICAL PLANTER. 



1st. CLEARING THE GROUND of whins, 

 broom, bramble, briar, brushwood, &c. &c. 

 if they abound on or encumber * the site to 

 be planted, to the most superficial observer 

 must appear necessary ; to the welfare of the 

 trees it is indispensably so. Therefore, let 

 the brush be cut -J- an inch or two within the 

 surface ; and so soon as sufficiently dried, 

 let it be collected into heaps and burnt. 



The ashes are a strong manure ; and if 

 the ground is to be ploughed, they should 

 be carefully spread and ploughed in, if of 



* In cases where the plough cannot be introduced 

 in the preparation of the ground, and where the whins 

 and broom are so thinly interspersed on the surface as 

 not to obstruct the operation of pitting ; and particularly 

 if the situation is bleak, it may be prudent to leave 

 the plants of whins, &c. which are placed in the inter- 

 vals of the pits : in which case, they would act the part 

 of nurses to the young timber crop for a time. See 

 Sect. VII. of this Chapter. 



t For this purpose, I have been in the habit of using 

 what we termed the whin-axe : an instrument having 

 one end, like a common axe, with four inches of face ; 

 and the other like an adze, also with four inches of face ; 

 whereby the person using it, continuing in the same 

 position, by simply turning it in the hand, can make 

 cuts at right angles with one another, as circumstances 

 may require. The head of the tool may be about eight 

 inches in length, weighing from two to three pounds j 

 and the handle of ash, about four feet lon^. 



