618 Cultivation ef Grafs-Land. Planting Ofier$.~~ Methods of. 



to make rails for fencing; they are then cut down, to make room for better 

 trees. By this time the oaks are grown to the height of twelve or fourteen 

 Jeet, when they draw thcmfelves up exceedingly faft. After the birches are 

 cut down, there is nothing more to do but thinning the oaks from time to time* 

 as requifite, and cutting off their dead branches as frequently as may be neceflary. 

 In performing the Brit much caution is required : for, if length of timber 

 can but once be obtained, time will bring it into thicknefs : they are therefore 

 let grow very clofe together for the firft fifty years. In refpecT: to the progrefs 

 of the oak in two plantations, one of twenty-eight, the other of fifty years growth : 

 in the former the trees were in general about twenty- five or twenty-fix feet in 

 height, and in girth about eighteen inches ; but in the latter fomething more than 

 iixty feet in height, and in girth a little above three feet, being in general about 

 fifty feet in the bole. Plantations of the fir kind require lefs thinning than thofe 

 of other trees. 



The thinning of underwoods muft be regulated, in a great meafure, by the 

 luxuriance of their growth, and the purpofes to which the cuttings are to be ap 

 plied : when for the larger ufes more thinning will be neceffary than in the con 

 trary cafe. 



There is another fort of planting which in many Situations, fuch as thofe of the 

 moift boggy fort on the borders of rivers, is extremely advantageous ; this is that 

 of the willow or ofier, for the purpofe of the bafket makers. The method of 

 planting in thefe cafes, on the banks of the Thames, is thus defcribed in the 

 Tranfaclions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. 



&quot; The ground is dug during the winter a full fpade s depth, and left rough, to 

 prevent the tides from running it together again before it can be planted. 



c The work begins in the month of March. The planter having procured the 

 fets or plants, which are fifteen or fixteen inches long, cut diagonally off the ftrong- 

 cft fhoots of the laft year s growth, care being taken that they are not cut near 

 to the top of the rods, that part being too porous to make a found plant, the ground 

 is then marked out into rows two feet afunder ; and the fets are fluck in the rows 

 eighteen inches from each other, leaving about feven inches of the fets above the 

 ground. This work is very eafily done, without ufing even a dibble or a fetting- 

 ftick ; but, when planted, care muft be taken, by hoeing, to keep them as free 

 from weeds as poffible ; or, if the ground be too wet for the hoe, a weeding-hook 



