Cultivation of Grafs Lund. Management of Woods Cutting of. 6*23 



ether, and which will come round fit to be cut together at the fame periods j and 

 fuch kinds mould be allowed to ftand for timber, and that at fuch diflances as to 

 injure the underwood as little as poflible. The plants for filling up old decayed 

 woods fhould be the flrongeft and beft of their kinds ; and thofe which are weak at 

 firft will be drawn up by the furrounding underwood, and become from their 

 increafed height flill weaker. At the next cutting of the underwood they 

 will be blown down; or, if cut off, the (hoots will be too weak to grow up 

 with theother underwood. Oak, afli, and Spanifh chefnut mould be kept in a 

 nurfery for this purpofe : alder and birch plants grow plentifully fpontaneoufly in 

 fome countries, and may be taken up for ufe. Alder is fometimes propagated by 

 taking up old roots and dividing them into feveral parts ; and hazel may beraifed 

 in the fame way. Willow is generally planted in cuttings; but a much better way 

 where there are any old willow flocks, is to plafh down the moots to fill up the 

 vacant places round fuch old flocks.*&quot; 



It is a queflion which has not yet been fully decided, and which can only be 

 well afcertained by trials made upon a number of poles or Items of different forts 

 of wood at different growths, as feven, fourteen, and twenty-four years, to fee 

 whether the increafe is in proportion to the length of growth. In this way, pro 

 per attention being paid to the nature of the foil by nice obfervation, in time 

 a correct and ufeful eflimate might be obtained of the moft advantageous periods 

 of cutting woods. The practice of cutting differs in different diftricts, from feven 

 or eight to twenty-five or thirty years ; but the moft common is probably from 

 twelve to fourteen or eighteen. There is alfo a practice in fome wood countries 

 of leaving one or two ftems upon each ftool for a double growth, by which a por 

 tion of large wood may be procured in each fall. In this way it is probable that 

 there may not be a much lefs increafe in the growth of the other parts of the wood, 

 while the largenefs of thefe flems mayafford more profi t,andadmit of being applied 

 more generally and to more important ufes. If there are caufes that cannot be 

 obviated, foas to prevent cattle from injuring the early growth of woods, it mufl 

 obvioufly be the moft profitable method to defer the cutting to as late a period as 

 poflible, from the mifchief being chiefly in the firft few years. For many ufes ic 

 is impoflible to cut at the more early periods, except on very good foils indeed. 

 This is the cafe with afh and oak, for hop-poles, and fome other forts. On the 



* Davis in Bath Papers. 



