76 TREE-PLANTING. 



The oak frequently succeeds well on soils that 

 would often not be considered appropriate for it, did 

 it not furnish proof to the contrary at times, being 

 often found to luxuriate on soil of opposite qualities, 

 which is too poor to produce good specimens of elm 

 or ash. This, doubtless, arises from the fact that its 

 roots penetrate into the ground to a greater depth 

 than those of almost any other tree, finding its pabulum, 

 or food, in under stratifications of the soil. 



It is generally supposed to affect a strong deep 

 soil, free from the presence of any stagnant water, but 

 it attains to a good size very often in sandy or gravelly 

 ground, particularly when there is clay mixed with it. 

 It is however in rich sheltered valleys, when asso- 

 ciated with other trees, that the oak succeeds best, 

 assuming a lofty altitude, with a tall trunk, when the 

 same variety would become stunted and dwarfed in 

 an exposed situation. When the oak is planted in 

 bleak spots, it is necessary to find a shelter for the 

 young plantation in other trees of faster growth, as 

 Scotch-fir, larch, beech, or spruce-fir ; it being usual 

 in bleak situations, for those who understand what 

 they are doing, to have firs planted a few years pre- 

 viously, which have attained a height of three or four 

 feet at the time the oak plants are inserted in the 

 ground. 



The young oak soon takes a firm grip of the soil, 

 and being very tenacious of life is rarely smothered, or 

 killed by confinement. This shelter is very necessary, 

 for although it expands into leaf at a comparatively 

 late period of the season, the slightest touch of frost 

 has a very visible effect upon its foliage. After being 

 closely sheltered, and then relieved, it often advances 



