185 



Spanish chesnut, elm, or plane, if the plant to be 

 layered down is not above two inches diameter at 

 four inches from the root, rather than take out the 

 half of the root, slash with a knife the plant about 

 six inches up from the ground or root, half-way 

 through in the under side, say the side you bend it 

 to, in order to make it bend down, keeping the bark 

 whole on the upper side ; also slashing with a knife 

 the shoot you lay on the ground, to make it strike 

 root. See this fully explained in my Forester's Guide. 



VII. — In laying down spruce firs, there must be 

 no breaking of their bark, and if it can be done with- 

 out injury to the roots of the tree on the other side, 

 cut the roots on the side to be taken up, at two feet 

 from the tree, taking care not to loose the roots on 

 the under side, and always bending in the young 

 fibres, or roots that come up amongst the earth, care- 

 fully covering them over with earth. 



VIII. and Lastly. — I need hardly remark that 

 when these plantations are thinned out to the dis- 

 tances mentioned, that they will appear thin to the 

 look for two or three years at first, the more so, as 

 they for the most part have been too long in being 

 thinned ; hence, many of the trees are very polish ; 

 but the necessity of doing it for the salvation and fu- 

 ture prosperity of these plantations, must be obvious 

 to every one the least conversant with plantations to 

 be reared for such important purposes, and which is 

 of infinite consequence to the proprietor. Had the 

 greater part of these plantations been made only 

 about twelve yards wider at first, and carefully at- 

 tended to in rearing, in other twenty years the timber 

 would be worth more than the lands they enclose ; 



