FAG 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



P A O 



551 



vigorous trees, which have long tap-roots running several 

 I'eet deep in the earth, and consequently take in vast quanti- 

 ties of crude unprepared juice, which is buoyed up to the 

 extreme parts of the tree ; and these seldom have many lateral 

 branches to digest and prepare their juice, by perspiring 

 and throwing off the crude part before it enters the fruits. 

 This remark will, in all probability, extend to all sorts of 

 fruit-trees, and is often the occasion of the good and bad 

 qualities of the same sorts of fruits growing on the same soil. 

 What has been related about grafting this tree into the Wal- 

 nut to promote its bearing, or render tlie fruit fairer, or 

 inoculating Cherries into the Chestnut for later fruit, is very 

 whimsical and silly, since neither the Chestnut nor the Walnut 

 will receive its own kind in any other way than by inocu- 

 lating i>r inarchins, and it is the latter only by which the 

 Walnut can be propagated ; nor was it ever known, that any 

 two trees of a different genus would take upon each other 

 so as to produce either a good tree or good fruit; therefore 

 we may justly explode all those different graftings of various 

 trees upon each other, so much talked of by the ancients, at 

 least we may suppose those trees are not known by the same 

 names now, that they are mentioned by in their writings; 

 for, says Mr. Miller,"! have made many trials upon them, 

 which, though performed with the utmost care, and in dif- 

 ferent seasons, have very seldom succeeded." But to re- 

 turn : If you design a large plantation of these trees for tim- 

 ber, after having two or three times ploughed t!ie ground, 

 the better to destroy the roots of weeds, make your furrows 

 about six feet distance from each other, and lay the nuts in 

 them ten inches apart, covering them with earth about three 

 inches deep ; and when they come up, you must carefully 

 clean them from weeds : the distance allowed between each 

 row is for the use of the horse-hoeing plough, which will de- 

 spatch a great deal of this work in a short time ; but it should 

 be very carefully done, so as not to injure the young plants ; 

 therefore the middle of the spaces only should be cleaned 

 with this instrument, and a hand-hoe must be used to clean 

 between the plants in the rows, and also on each side, where 

 it will be unsafe for the plough to be drawn; and in hand- 

 hoeing there must be great care taken not to cut the tender 

 rind of the plants. If in the following spring the spaces are 

 carefully stirred with the plough, it will not only make the 

 ground clean, but also loosen it, so as that the sun and mois- 

 ture may more easily penetrate the same, which will greatly 

 promote the growth of the plants ; and the oftener these 

 ploiighings are repeated, the cleaner will be the ground, and 

 the greater the progress of the plants, which cannot be kept 

 too clean while they are young. When these have remained 

 three or four years, if the nuts succeed well, you will have 

 many of these trees to remove, which should be clone at the 

 seasons before directed, leaving the trees about three feet 

 distance in the rows ; at which distance they may remain for 

 tluee or four years more, when you should remove every 

 other tree to make room for the remaining, which will reduce 

 the whole plantation to six feet square, a distance sufficient 

 for them to remain in until they are large enough for poles, 

 when you may cut down every alternate tree, selecting the 

 most unpromising, within one foot of the ground, in order to 

 make stools for poles, which in eight or ten years' time will 

 be strong enough to lop for hoops, hop-poles, &c. for which 

 purposes they are preferable to most other trees, so that 

 every tenth year there will be a fresh crop, which will pay 

 the rent of the ground, and all other incumbent charges, and 

 at the same time a full crop of growing timber left upon the 

 ground. But as the larger trees increase in bulk, their dis- 

 Unce of twelve feet square will be too small ; therefore when 



they have grown to a size for small boards, you should fell 

 every other tree, which will reduce them to squares uf twenty- 

 four feet, which is a proper distance for them to remain for 

 good; this will give air to the underwood, which by this 

 time would be too mivch overhung by the closeness of the 

 large trees, by which means that will be creatly encouraged, 

 and the small timber thus felled will pay sufficient interest 

 for the money at first laid out in planting, together with the 

 principal also ; so that all the remaining trees are clear profit, 

 for the underwood still continuing will pay the rent of the. 

 ground, and all other expenses ; and how fine an estate the 

 succeeding generations will find in the course of fourscore 

 years, when the timber-trees shall have arrived at maturity, 

 every one may easily conceive. In raising Chestnut woods 

 for timber, Mr. Boutcher advises for the first two years to take 

 a line of Beans between the drills; and at the end of two years, 

 early in the spring, to remove every second plant in the rows, 

 which will leave them about two feet and a half asunder, at 

 which distance they may remain for three years. Then re- 

 move every second row, mid every second tree in the remain- 

 ing rows, which will leave them at the distance of eight feet 

 by five; these plants will be useful for stakes and poles. 

 The ground may now be levelled, and dug for any kitchen- 

 garden crops ; in the February following cut them down, 

 reserving only the straightest and most vigorous, at the dis- 

 tance of twenty-five or thirty feet. Dwarf crops may be 

 taken between the rows for two years more, after which the 

 trees will soon cover the ground. Both Mr. Boutcher and 

 Dr. Hunter prefer February to October for transplanting. 

 Mr. Marshall advises tho nuts to be set by the dibble, six 

 inches asunder, in a quincunx order; because drills serve as 

 conductors to the field-mouse. Mr. Hanbury contends for 

 planting a Chestnut wood from the nursery : he advises to 

 plant out the trees when they are five feet high, because they 

 will not be so large as to require staking, nor so small as to 

 be within the reach of hares, rabbits, &c. the distance to 

 be two yards, which is far enough asunder for poles ; when 

 they are large enough for this use, they should be cut down, 

 leaving a sufficient nrmber of the most thriving trees for 

 timber, this will be in fourteen years ; if they are cut within 

 a foot of the ground, there will be stools for another crop in 

 ten years more. If the plantation be large, the first fall ot* 

 poles may be besrun so early, and the latter deferred so late, 

 that the year after the last fall, the stools of the first-cut 

 poles shall have sent forth others ready for a second cutting. 

 Thus the proprietor will enjoy the benefit of an annual sale, 

 and the country will not be glutted with too great a quantity. 

 Mr. Hanbury prefers this method, because when the tree is 

 raised from nuts, it is subject to a tap-root, which strikes 

 beyond the reach of nourishment, and grows slower in con- 

 sequence ; and because while they are in the nursery a vast 

 quantity will stand in a small space ; whereas when they 

 are raised from the nuts, the whole wood must be kept clear 

 of weeds till the plants are grown of a sufficient size to need 

 no further weeding. In making a plantation of Chestnut- 

 trees for the fruit, the ground should have three or four 

 ploughings in the precedinj summer and winter; and if one 

 good digging: be added a little before planting, it will be a 

 great improvement. Plant your trees in rows six feet distant 

 every way, dig the ground annually, and when the branches 

 begin to meet, take up t-very second row, and every second 

 plant, which will leave all the trees at twelve feet distance, 

 while the wood of those that are taken up will he found 

 of great use for many purposes. Having dug or half- 

 trenched the land, if it be of good quality it may for some 

 years be cultivated with Potatoes, Cabbages, and Turnip 



