636 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 

 549 



III. 



by short and irregular turnings. Straight parallel strips, on irregular surfaces, have a 

 more varied appearance at a distance, than strips ever so much varied on a flat surface ; 

 for, in the former case, the outline against the sky is varied as much as that on the earth. 

 In extensive, hilly pastures, in which it is often desirable to produce shelter, and at the 

 same time to plant only the most rocky and unproductive spots, the forms may be of 

 the most irregular description ; and by planting chiefly on the eminences and slopes 

 {fig. 550. ), shelter will be most effectually produced, the pasture improved, the least 

 valuable ground rendered productive in copse or 550 



timber, and the greatest richness and picturesque . , /y ;/w' ^-^ '^i 



beauty conferred on the landscape. There are some ^^*i5>{jfi**1^ -^^'^-^S^- 

 fine examples of this on the hilly districts of Fife- ^^rv^***'^^ ^''*-.<J 

 shire ; there, on many estates where nothing was 

 sought for but profit and shelter, the greatest 

 beauty has been produced ; and the picturesque 

 tourist now passes through glades and valleys, pas- 

 tured by well-fed cattle and sheep, enlivened by 

 rocks, thickets, hanging-woods, and occasional rills 

 and lakes. Fifty years ago scarcely a tree was '^^* 

 to be seen, and only the most inferior descriptions ^^ ,^,^. 

 of live stock. -^.- 



4228. The species of woody plants best adapted T.r 

 for shelter, are the rapid growing and evergreen fji^-Ssl 

 trees, as the Scotch pine, and such as are at the same 

 time clothed with branches from the ground up- 

 wards, as the spruce fir, the best of all trees for 

 shelter, unless the situation is very elevated. Among 

 the deciduous trees, the fast-growing branchy sort 

 are most desirable, as the larch, birch, poplar, wil- 

 low ; in very elevated situations, the birch, moun- 

 tain-ash, and Scotch-pine, exposed to the sea 

 breeze, the elder and sycamore. To maintain a branchy, leafy screen from the ground 

 upwards, intermix trees and shrubs which stole ; or such as grow under the shade and drip 

 of others, as the holly, hazel, dog-wood, box, yew, &c. To produce shelter, and yet 

 admit of the growth of grass below the trees, prune any sort to single stems, and use 

 chiefly deciduous sorts. 



4229. In bleak and barren situations, Marshal observes, the larch will generally be 

 found the most profitable, as timber. But, being deciduous, it does not in winter, when 

 its services are most wanted, afford so much shelter as the common pine. A skreen, to 

 shelter live stock, should be close at the bottom. It is, otherwise, injurious rather than 

 beneficial. Not only the blast acquires additional current, but snow is liable to be blown 

 through, and to be lodged in drifts on the leeward side, to the annoyance and danger of 

 sheep that have repaired to it for shelter. A larch plantation margined with spruce firs, 

 and these headed at twelve or fifteen feet high, would afford the required shelter, for a 

 length of years. The firs, or pines, thus treated, would be induced to throw out lateral 

 boughs, and feather to the ground : while the larches, in their more advanced state of 

 growth, would, by permitting the winter's winds to pass through the upper parts of the 

 skreen, break the current and mellow the blast. 



4230. In more genial situatiotis, the beech, by retaining its leaves in winter, especially 

 while it is young, forms a valuable skreen. If the outer margins were kept in a state of 

 coppice wood, and cut alternately, and the middle ranks suffered to rise as timber trees, 

 the triple purpose of skreen plantations might be had in an eminent degree, and almost in 

 perpetuity. 



4231. In deep-soiled, vale districts, which not unfrequently want shelter, skreens of oak 

 might be managed in a similar way. Hollies, or other hardy evergreens, planted as 



