120 Mountain and hill and down planting 



In the hard rocky hill or mountain we are not liable 

 to landslips. 



Trees on ground liable to landslips. In some soils 

 landslips are far from uncommon, and in such a country 

 it is best to be careful to keep surfaces likely to be 

 affected in that way planted, so far as may be. Slopes 

 on such ground cleared of trees, and which for ages may 

 have held sound, sometimes slip after the roots of the 

 trees begin to decay. Roads and drives, too, are apt to 

 give trouble if made near such ground. If near a house 

 or road a landslip may lead to great expense. Unplanted 

 land with the same tendency should be planted at the 

 earliest opportunity with Oak, Beech, and Tree Willows, 

 with Larch between them, and as these trees got old 

 and strong they would hold the bank. I once cut down 

 some old Oaks which grew on a slope above a road, one 

 of those roads that have been there for ages, and, like so 

 many in the southern country, is cut deep into the earth. 

 Soon after the Oaks were cleared and the stout roots 

 which held the bank together had lost their hold, the 

 great bank began to slip down to the road. The cost 

 and labour to repair the bank I should prefer not to tell 

 of. Difficulties of this sort do not often arise except in 

 diversified country. 



Down planting. In England there are vast areas of 

 beautiful down land with a divine air and lovely forms 

 of hill and dale, but bare of trees as a desert without 

 an oasis. Nature does little or nothing here for the 

 tree the thin, dry, chalk-hill soil, the slight rainfall, help 

 to make the desolation, while in view of the hills Oak 

 and Ash are strong and numerous in the Weald. 



Now here, happily, trees not natives of our land may 

 give us great aid in imparting a crowning grace to these 



