LIGHTNING-RODS. 243 



ascertained the most profitable period for cutting, was once in 

 about 16 years, when every thing was removed of an availa- 

 ble size, and the wood was left entirely to itself for another 

 growth. It has been "found that this yielded an annual inter- 

 est on $16 to $20 an acre, which for a rough and rather 

 indifferent soil, remote from a wood or timber market, will 

 pay fully as much as the nett profits on cultivated land in 

 the neighborhood. 



When young, the wood should be kept entirely free from 

 >hoep and cattle, as they feed upon the fresh shoots with 

 nearly the same avidity as they do upon grass or clover, and 

 when it is desirable to thicken the standing trees by an addi- 

 tional growth, cattle should be kept from the range till such 

 time as the new sprouts or seedling may have attained a 

 height beyond their reach. Where it is desirable to bring into 

 woodland such fields as have not forest roots or seeds already 

 deposited in a condition for germination, the fields should be 

 sown or planted with all the various nuts or seeds adapted 

 to the soil, and which it is desirable to cultivate. Trans- 

 planting" trees for a forest in this country, cannot at present 

 be made to pay from its large expense, and if the trees will 

 not grow naturally or by sowing, the land should be contin- 

 ued in pastures or cultivation. There are some lands so un- 

 fitted for tillage by their roughness or texture, as to be much 

 more profitable as woodland. It is better to retain such in 

 forest, and make from them whatever they are capable of 

 yielding, than by clearing and bringing them into use, to add 

 them to what are perhaps already superfluous tillage fields, 

 and become a drain on labor and manures which they illy 

 repay. 



In clearing lands, when it is desirable to reserve sufficient 

 trees for a park or shade, a selection should be made of such 

 as arc young and healthy which have grown in the most open 

 places, with a short stem and thick top. It will tend to insure 

 their continued and vigorous growth, if the top and leading 

 branches be shortened. A large tree will seldom thrive when 

 subjected to the new condition in which it is placed, after the 

 removal of the shade and moisture by which it has been sur- 

 rounded. They will generally remain stationary or soon de- 

 cay ; and the slight foothold they have upon the earth by their 

 roots, which was sufficient for their protected situation while 

 surrounded by other trees, exposes them to destruction from 

 violent gales ; and they seldom have that beauty of top and 

 symmetry of appearance which should entitle them to be retain. 



