Book II. 



FORMING PLANTATIONS. 



571 



3640. JVith respect to climate^ the species of tree which grows nearest the regions of 

 perpetual snow are the birch, common pine, wliite beam, larch, mountain ash, and elder. 

 A warmer zone is required for the sycamore and hornbeam ; and still more for the beech, 

 ash, elm, and maple. The evergreen firs prefer dry sheltered dingles and ravines, not 

 far up the sides of hills; and tlie oak, chestnut, lime, poplars, tree willows, and a va- 

 riety of American trees, will not thrive at any great elevation above the sea. The hardiest 

 shore trees are the sycamore, beech, and elder; but on sheltered shores, or such as are little 

 subject to the sea-breeze, pines, firs, and most sorts of trees will thrive. 



'564 1 . The sort of product desiredfrom planting, as whether shelter, effect, or timber, copse, 

 bark, fuel, &c. and what kinds of each, must be in most cases more attended to than the 

 soil, and in many cases even than the situation. The thriving of trees and plants of every 

 kind, indeed, depends much more on the quantity of available soil, and its state in re- 

 spect to water and climate, tlian on its constituent principles. Moderately sheltered and 

 on a dry subsoil, it signifies little whether the surface strata be a clayey, sandy, or calca- 

 rous loam ; all the principal trees will thrive nearly equally well in either, so circum- 

 stanced; but no tree whatever in these or in any soil saturated with water, and in a bleak 

 exposed site. For hedge-row timber, those l^inds which grow with lofty stems, which 

 draw their nourishment from the subsoil and do least injury by their shade, are to be pre- 

 ferred. These, according to Blakie, are oaks, narrow-leaved elm, and black Italian pop- 

 lar ; beech, ash, and firs, he says, are ruinous to fences and otherwise injurious to farmers. 

 {On Hedges and Hedge -row Timber, p. 10.) 



Sect. III. Of forming Plantations. 



3642. The formation of plantations includes enclosing, preparation of the soil, and 

 mode of planting or sowing. 



3643. The enclosing of plantations is too essential a part of their formation to require 

 enlarging on. In all those of small extent, as hedges and strips, it is the principal part 

 of the expense ; but to plant in these forms, or any other, without enclosing, would be 

 merely a waste of labor and property. The sole object of fencing being to exclude the 

 domestic quadrupeds, it is obvious, that whatever in the given situation is calculated to 

 effect this at the least expense, the first cost and future repairs or management being taken 

 into consideration, must be the best. Where stones abound on the spot, a wall is the best 

 and cheapest of all fences as such ; but, in the great majority of cases, recourse is 

 obliged to be had to a verdant fence of some sort, and generally to one of hawthorn. 

 This being itself a plantation, requires to be defended by some temporary barrier, till it 

 arrives at maturity; and here the remark just made will again apply, that whatever tempo- 

 rary barrier is found cheapest in the given situation will be the best. Hedge fences are in 

 general accompanied by an open draiij, which, besides acting in its proper capacity, fur- 

 nishes at its formation a quantity of soil to increase the pasturage of the hedge plants ; 

 an excavation 



'^Jig. 454 a), ^r^ A C^ 



andan elevation 

 (f), to aid in 

 the formation 

 of a temporary 

 fence. A hedge 



enclosing a plantation, requires only to be guarded on the exterior side, and of the 

 various ways in which this is done, the following may be reckoned among tlie best 

 and most generally applicable : by an open drain and paling, or line of posts and 

 rails (rt), the plants inserted in a facing of stone, backed by the earth of the drain (b) ; an 

 excellent mode, as the plants generally thrive, and almost never require cleaning from 

 weeds ; an open drain and paling, and the hedge on the top of the elevation (c) ; no open 

 drain, but the soil being a loam, the surface-turves formed into a narrow ridge, to serve 

 as a paling, a temporary hedge of furze sown on its summit, and the permanent hedge 

 of thorn or holly within (rf); and an open drain, but on the inside, the exterior being 

 protected by a steep bank sown with furze (e). The first of these modes is the most 

 general, the second the best, and tlie fourtli the cheapest, where timber is not abundant. 

 Separation fences are commonly formed in the first, second, or third manner, but with a 

 paling on both sides. 



3644. In the preparation of the soil for planting, draining is the first operation. What- 

 ever may be the nature of the soil, if the plants are intended to thrive, the subsoil ought 

 to be rendered dry. Large open drains may be used, where the ground is not to undergo 

 much preparation; but where it is to be fallowed or trenched, under drains become re- 

 (juisite. It is true they, will in time be choked up by the roots of the trees ; but by that 

 period, as no more culture will be required, they may be opened and left open. Many si- 

 tuationsj as steep sides of hills and rocky irregular surfaces, do not admit of preparing the 

 soil by comminution previously to planting ; but wherever that can be done, either by 



