120 TREE-PLANTING. 



and so is one of the few trees which will grow, and 

 thrive, where the subsoil is wet and retentive, a fruit- 

 ful source of injury and want of success in the case of 

 many trees. In dry sandy soils it grows well when 

 young, and is often found of great value as a shelter 

 or nurse to other trees, but it will not attain to the 

 importance of a timber tree in such a soil, but assumes 

 a sickly aspect, with scanty foliage, and compares very 

 unfavourably with those specimens which are seen at 

 their best, and flourishing luxuriantly in cool soil in a 

 sheltered situation ; for although so hardy as never to 

 be affected by any degree of frost during winter, it 

 never attains to a great size in an exposed situation. 



The most vigorous spruce trees are those which 

 have always enjoyed sufficient shelter, and yet have 

 not been confined, which grow on a soft soil rich in 

 alluvial deposit. In growing the spruce for ornament, 

 it is necessary that it should have shelter, but at the 

 same time it must not be crowded up, its growth 

 being uniformly conical ; the foliage of a good speci- 

 men is very luxuriant, and extends down to the surface 

 of the ground ; but in the growth of the tree in 

 plantations it is not necessary that the lateral branches 

 should be preserved when the production of timber is 

 the object aimed at, in which case it is better attained 

 by the trees pressing close upon one another, as the 

 branches nearest the ground become enfeebled and 

 drop off. 



Plantations of spruce are generally considered fit 

 to be felled at the age of seventy or eighty years. 

 Pruning should never be resorted to with this species, 

 which advance rapidly after being established for a 

 few years in suitable situations. Its yearly top shoots 



