22 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



will have been raised by frost and others loosened 

 by wind, and unless they are straightened and 

 made firm they will certainly wither in the 

 summer. 



There is a difference of practice about clearing 

 young plantations from strong weeds, such as 

 brambles, gorse, etc. Some planters think that 

 these weeds do not cause any serious damage, 

 and that the best plan is to leave the plantation 

 until the trees are 12 or 15 feet high, by which 

 time it is expected that the trees have grown 

 above and killed the undergrowth. It must be 

 allowed that it is useless to keep trees in a 

 plantation as clean as those in an orchard, and 

 that sometimes much money has been unneces- 

 sarily spent in making plantations look tidy ; 

 still, it will generally be found that early neglect 

 of a plantation is false economy. A plantation 

 from which the undergrowth is not cut, soon 

 becomes an impenetrable jungle, and the planter 

 cannot go through it and see the growth of the 

 trees, and may be quite unaware of numerous 

 failures in the centre. 



Brambles are the most noxious of all weeds. 

 They pull down the young trees, and by their 

 thorns chafe the stems and make wounds by 

 which injurious spores may enter. They should 



