ARBORICULTURE. 



though many of the plants are liable to suffer, if a 

 dry summer follows the planting, a majority are 

 sure to succeed, which well repays the cost. Not- 

 withstanding the risk of being defeated in such 

 attempts, it is quite certain that in numberless 

 cases they have succeeded admirably ; and very 

 valuable woods now ornamenting both England 

 and Scotland have been raised under these simple 

 modes of planting. When such ground is level, 

 an opening is made by first cutting the turf in the 

 shape of a cross, and turning back the four corners 

 from the centre, breaking up and making a hollow 

 for the root : when the tree is placed upright, the 

 turf is returned, and trodden firmly down. 



But in planting rough unprepared ground, 

 especially where it is very hard, it will sometimes 

 be found advisable to incur the expense oi pitting, 

 even where the pits have not been prepared 

 beforehand, as above recommended. The surface- 

 covering is first cleared off, the pit broken up with 

 a mattock, and the loose earth thrown out with 

 a spade ; the tree is then placed, and planted with 

 the removed soil. 



Before planting, it is always necessary, as we 

 have stated, to see that the land is properly 

 drained, otherwise good timber cannot be pro- 

 duced, and it may be advisable to notice briefly 

 some of the points to be kept in view in draining. 

 The number and extent of the drains will be 

 regulated by the extent of plantation and wetness 

 of soil, which will also indicate the proper dis- 

 tances apart. A depth of between one and a half 

 to three feet is that recommended. 



' Before commencing active operations in any 

 portion of land about to be drained for planting, 

 great care must be taken in the selection and pro- 

 vision of a proper outfall. This is of such vital 

 importance, that, were it not attended to, the whole 

 drainage might be rendered totally inefficient, or, 

 in fact, it could not be executed at all. On level 

 land this is more particularly the case, and its per- 

 fect execution, both in laying out and cutting, 

 resolves itself into an absolute necessity. Where 

 a large tract of level land has to be drained a 

 circumstance not likely often to occur this super- 

 . fluous absorption causes an increased evaporation 

 from the stem and leaves, the consequence of 

 which is, that a lower natural heat prevails in the 

 plant, and the chemical changes on which its 

 growth depends proceed with less rapidity. The 

 air ought to be able to penetrate into the soil, 

 being, as it is, so essential to the preservation of a 

 proper temperature and to the ramification of roots ; 

 and this it can never do in soils where there is an 

 excess of water. To remove, then, this free water, 

 which is the source of so many evils, the cause of 

 so much disease, and the destroyer, consequently, 

 of many sanguine expectations, ought to be the 

 first care of every arboriculturist. Unless this be 

 attended to, no successful result can be attained ; 

 the progress of plantations will be tardy ; the 

 individual members of them will become deformi- 

 ties, when they would have been ornaments ; they 

 will become sickly and die, when they would have 

 been healthy, and yet growing vigorously. . . . 

 The principal object in view in draining wet land 

 is, to cause the whole of the rain-water falling 

 upon the surface of the ground to penetrate readily 

 to a desired depth, and to discharge this water at 

 once, not allowing it to accumulate in the subsoil. 

 This done, the soil becomes pervious, and is then 



in a fit state for the operation of the planter.' 

 Rutherford, Scot. Arbor. Soc. Trans. voL i. 



When ornamental plantations are made in a 

 park, and especially if they are in view from the 

 principal windows, it is desirable that they should 

 rise as quickly as possible, for the sake of imme- 

 diate effect; the trees, therefore, receive careful 

 treatment. The ground is not only deeply trenched, 

 but a most liberal dressing of good rotten dung 

 and vegetable mould the first trenched down, 

 and the latter dug into the surface is bestowed, 

 which of course excites the trees into much 

 stronger and more rapid growth than if only the 

 ordinary expedients were employed. But this 

 superior and expensive practice is seldom neces- 

 sary, and much seldomer executed. Indeed, in 

 the rearing of extensive forests for valuable tim- 

 ber, it would be decidedly injurious ; for though 

 the young trees might rise rapidly for a few years, 

 as soon as the exciting influence of the manure 

 was over, they would, as all experience teaches, 

 soon fall into a diseased condition, and never 

 attain that hardy robustness which natural forest- 

 timber always presents. 



Pruning Thinning. 



When woods are planted as a source of profit, a 

 material part of their subsequent management 

 consists in the labour of pruning and thinning the 

 trees. It is not enough that trees shall grow and 

 be annually increasing in bulk ; they should also 

 be assisted to take the finest and most valuable 

 forms, and this in fact greatly affects their increase. 

 A round straight bole, of moderate length, is more 

 useful and saleable than a crooked knotty one of 

 twice the size. To have fine timber, it is abso- 

 lutely necessary to bestow a little trouble to start 

 them fairly off, during the first ten or fifteen years 

 of their growth. To have tall and straight stems, 

 the trees are planted thickly at first, about four 

 feet apart, or even less ; and if in the spring the 

 woodman pays his annual visit, armed with a light 

 keen bill, he may direct the growth with the best 

 effect Every lateral branch that appears to be 

 attracting too much of the powers of the plant, 

 and especially if, as already observed, it be con- 

 tending for supremacy with the leader, should be 

 cut off close to the bole as soon as it has attained 

 the diameter of an inch. Such a wound will be 

 soon healed up, and present no flaw when the tree 

 is cut up at the saw-pit. If branches are allowed 

 to remain until they have acquired a diameter of 

 From two to four or more inches, and then cut off 

 either close, or, what is much worse, at some dis- 

 tance from the bole, the timber is deteriorated. 

 Such wounds will be healed over in time, but the 

 timber will be wanting in its best property 

 namely, soundness and freeness from knots. 



Trees grown for ornament in lawns require no 

 other pruning than what may be necessary for the 

 removal of rotten or decaying branches ; and in 

 general it will be found advisable to leave each 

 kind of tree to assume its own natural form. 

 Ornamental trees are always most beautiful in 

 their proportions when the branches and spray- 

 tend towards the ground ; but this will not be the 

 case if cattle are allowed to browse beneath and 

 around them. These animals nibble away all the 

 Foliage and spray within reach, so as to form an 

 even bottom of foliage, anything but agreeable to 



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