170 THE PRACTICAL PLANTER. 



Care must also be taken to prevent whip- 

 ping ; nor should the plantation be thinned 

 much at any time, lest havock should be 

 made by prevailing winds, which many, 

 through inadvertency, have experienced. 

 And this precaution becomes the more ne- 

 cessaiy, inasmuch as Scotch Firs, intended 

 for useful timber, should never be planted 

 except in exposed situations and on thin 

 soil. 



It may be worthy of remark, however, 

 that after a certain period, that is, by the 

 time the plantation arrives at the age of fifty 

 or sixty years, it will be proper to thin more 

 freely i in order to harden the timber ; and 

 that, then, this may be done with less risk 

 of danger, from the strength the trees will 

 now have acquired, than at any prior period, 

 provided it be done gradually. 



4thly. PLANTATIONS OF SPRUCE should 

 be kept much thinner than those of Scotch 

 Firs. This becomes necessary from the na- 

 ture of the plant ; it being apt to grow more 

 coniform than the preceding, and likewise, 

 to assume a very sickly appearance, if it en- 

 joy not a freedom of space. Nevertheless, 



