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it a potatoe cioj) (after tlie maiinei directed in the foregoing 

 Section), before being planted. About the twelfth or fifteenth 

 year after the clumps were planted, I began to cut away the 

 larch and spruce-firs. These had been introduced merely as 

 nurses to the deciduous trees ; and from the warmth and 

 shelter they had afforded, and the previous double-digging, 

 the whole had rushed up with singular rapidity. The next 

 thing I did was, to thin out the trees to single distance, so as 

 that the tops could not touch one another, and to cut away the 

 side branches, within about three, or three-and-a-half feet of 

 the surface. By this treatment it will be perceived, that a 

 considerable deal of air was admitted into the plantations. 

 The hght, which before had had access only at the top, was 

 now equally diffused on all sides ; and the trees, although 

 for a few years they advanced but httle in height, made sur- 

 prising efforts towards a full development of their most im- 

 portant properties. They acquired greater strength of stem, 

 greater thickness of bark, and extension of roots, together 

 with a corresponding amplitude of top and branches. 



But at this time it was apparent, that the clumps had a 

 remarkable advantage over the belt, or continuous plantation. 

 While in no part so deep as to impede the salutary action of 

 the atmosphere, the circular or oval figure of the clumps, and 

 their free exposure to the elements, furnished them with a 

 far greater proportion of good outside trees ; and these, 

 having acquired from the beginning a considerable share of 

 the protecting properties, were in a situation to shelter the 

 rest, and also to prevent the violence of the wind from inju- 

 riously acting on the interior of the mass. It therefore be- 

 came necessary to thin the belt for the second time, which 

 was now done to double distance ; that is to say, to such a 

 distance, as would have admitted of a similar number of 

 trees to stand between the existing plants. Thus, within 

 four or five years jafter the first thinning, I began to have 

 tolerable subjects for removal, to situations of moderate ex- 



