391 



enclose with a strong ring-fence the whole estate, in which, of course, 

 he had the benefit of aid from his neighbours ; and having previously 

 drained such parts of it as were swampy, he immediately proceeded to 

 plant the whole excepting only an arable farm of a hundred and forty 

 acres. This took place about 1777. The soil was a brown mould, the 

 subsoil light and gravelly ; and although he covered it with trees of every 

 common species, yet he resolved that the larch, and the Scotch fir, for 

 which he had a peculiar predilection, should form the staple of his woods. 



The singular spectacle of nearly an entire property dedicated to trees, 

 did not fail to attract the attention of his neighbours, who entertained 

 no belief of the extraordinary success of wood, in these high latitudes; 

 but the repeated premiums and medals, conferred by the Society of Arts, 

 soon attested the importance of his operations. After the plantations 

 had grown for five-and-twenty years or more, Mr. White began to think 

 of establishing his residence on the spot. For that purpose, he built a 

 commodious house and offices ; he laid out an excellent kitchen-garden ; 

 and added shrubberies, a piece of water, and a handsome little park, all 

 cut out of this extensive woodland. Enclosures adapted to tillage soon 

 followed, which were added to the arable farm, already in his ovm oc- 

 cupation. But the wonderful part of the story still remains to be told. 

 It is well known to those, who chance to have subjected to the plough 

 old woodland, how inconceivably even the poorest soils are meliorated 

 by the droppings of trees, and particularly of the larch, for any con- 

 siderable length of time, and the rich coat of vegetable mould, which is 

 thereby accumulated on the original surface. The first years' crops of 

 corn were accordingly immense ; and those that followed were such, as 

 to give an extraordinary impulse to the good culture, which gradually 

 took place. After the park was laid down, and the farm improved, the 

 land-rent, fairly estimating its value to a tenant, amounted to no less than ^ 

 about 250/. a year. S / 2- *) i^ 



In respect to the plantations, after the first ten or twelve years, they 

 began to pay admirably in pit-wood, hedge-stakes, and other country 

 uses ; and the fir and larch the best of all, from the tanning principle so 

 powerfully possessed by the latter, over and above the value of the wood. 

 On inquiry many years ago, I found, that the larch-wood alone returned 

 Mr. White 650 Z. a year, a sum not greatly less than the price he had Ji 3 1/^6 

 paid for the entire estate : and five or six years since, it appeared, that 

 his son, the present Mr. White, had often drawn more than 400 /. a year, 

 for his larch-bark only, and 1000 Z. a year, as the entire revenue from 

 his woods ! — This, it is to be observed, was derived merely from the 



