166 THE PRACTICAL PLANTER. 



and then those which, from their situation, 

 may be dispensed with. 



At what period of the age of the planta- 

 tion all the nurses are to be removed, can- 

 not be easily determined ; and indeed, if 

 the nurses are chiefly composed of Larches, 

 it may with propriety be said, they should 

 never be totally removed while any other 

 kinds remain. For, besides that this plant 

 is admirably calculated to compose part of 

 a beautiful mixture with other kinds, it is 

 excelled by few, perhaps none, as a timber 

 tree. 



But, when the nurses are formed of infe-* 

 rior kinds, such as the Mountain Ash and 

 Scotch Fir, they should generally all be re-r. 

 moved by the time the plantation arrives 

 to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, that 

 the timber trees be not drawn up too weak 

 and slender. 



Before this time, it may probably be ne-. 

 cessary to thin out part of the other kinds. 

 The least valuable, and worst thriving plants 

 are objects of the first choice, provided their 

 removal cause no blank or chasm ; but in 

 this case, namely, to fill up a vacancy, they 



