494 Of Plantations. 



as not to be able to support their tops, after the dead and 

 decaying trees are removed. The destruction is then com- 

 plete ; for it is quite impossible to thin plantations pf that 

 description, and maintain the selected trees in a healthy 

 state, or even to keep them alive, for die they must prema- 

 turely, under such gross mismanagement. The best reme- 

 dy for such a calamity, is to fell the whole mass of trees in 

 the plantations at once, and to renew them in the following 

 manner. 



The whole of the trees having been felled, as here re- 

 commended, the trunks of the oak, ash, elm, sweet chestnut, 

 and other trees likely to throw out good shoots, should be 

 cut off close by the ground, and their stubs carefully pre- 

 served from injury by wheels of carriages, when clearing the 

 woods, or otherwise ; and the roots of firs, and all other 

 trees which do not throw up shoots from the stubs, should 

 be grubbed up. The grubbing should be done in autumn, 

 and the holes left open all winter, for the purpose of ferti- 

 lizing the soil. Well-selected young forest trees should be 

 planted in those holes in spring. No variety of tree an- 

 swers so well for filling up, or removing old plantations, as 

 the locust acacia. It is a strong-rooted plant, and so tena- 

 cious of life that it seldom fails after transplanting, however 

 large the plants may be, and however unfavourable the soil 

 and situation where they are planted. Hares and rabbits 

 being particularly fond of the bark of locust acacias, the 

 stems of those trees, when young, require to be protected 

 against their depredations. 



The surface of the ground in the holes where the young 

 forest trees are planted, should be hoed two or three times 

 a-year, and for two or three successive years after planting. 

 That operation not only destroys weeds, but the aration 

 greatly promotes the growth of the young trees. The strong 

 shoots which rise from the reserved stubs of the trees, pre- 

 viously filled, should be cut in, and kept within due bounds, 

 so that they may be prevented from smothering the new 

 planted trees, which they otherwise would do. No farm 

 stock of any description should be allowed to enter the re- 

 newed plantations. Hares and rabbits should also be ex- 

 cluded as much as possible. The selecting and thinning of 

 the young shoots, rising from the roots and stubs in the re- 

 newed plantations, should be early attended to, and judici- 

 ously performed. 



