36 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



3920. IFitli respect to climate, the trees which grow nearest the regions of perpetual 

 snow are the birch, common pine, white beam, larch, mountain ash, and elde'r. A 

 warmer zone is required for- the sycamore and hornbeam ; and still more for the beech, 

 ash, elm, and maple. The exotic pines and firs prefer dry sheltered dingles and ravines, 

 not far up the sides of hills ; and the oak, chestnut, lime, poplai-s, tree willows, and a 

 variety of American trees, will not thrive at any great elevation above the sea. The 

 hardiest shore trees are the sycamore, beech, and elder ; but on sheltered shores, or such 

 as ar6 little subject to the sea-breeze, pines, firs, and most sorts of trees will thrive.. 



3921. The sort qf product desired from planting, as whether shelter, effect, or timber, copse, bark, fuel, 

 &c. and what kinds of each, must be, in most cases, more attended to than the soil, and in many cases 

 even than the situation. The thriving of trees and plants of every kind, indeed, depends much more on 

 the quantity of available soil, and its state in respect to water and climate, than on its constituent princi- 

 ples. Moderately sheltered and on a dry subsoil, it signifies little, as far as growth is concerned, whether the 

 surface strata be a clayey, sandy, or calcareous loam : all the principal trees will thrive nearly equally well 

 in any of these, so circumstanced ; but no tree whatever in these or in any soil saturated with water, and 

 in a bleak exposed site. The durability of the timber of diflerent trees, produced under such circumstances, 

 will also be very different. For durability, as already observed, it seems essential that every species of tree 

 should be planted in its natural soil, situation, and climate. For Ijedge-row timber, those kinds which 

 grow with lofty stems, which draw their nourishment from the subsoil, and do least injury by their shade, 

 are to be preferred. These, according to Blaikie, are oaks, narrow-leaved elm, and black Italian poplar ; 

 beech, ash, pines, and lirs, he says, are ruinous to fences, and otherwise injurious to farmers. {On 

 Hedges a7id Hedgerow Timber, p. W.) 



JlJ ili liXiil Ovi '{iiin iiOo vj[03 jA: < _; /j>I:jI-| hi .' . {-,. 



n<,.t' ,^a< iffitiiulij ;ro i,imi<aBe. Ill; Forming Plantations. 5 'b'" iu,d 



3922, The formation of plantations includes the enclosing, the preparation of the soil, 

 and the motle of planting or sowing. 



3923. The enclosing of jjlantations is too essential a part of their formation to require 

 enlarging on. In all tliose of small extent, as hedges and strips^ it is the principal part 

 of the expense ; but to plant in these forms, or in any other, witliout enclosing, would be 

 merely a waste of labour and property. The sole object of fencing being to exclude the 

 domestic quadrupeds, it is obvious, that whatever in the given situation is calculated to 

 effect this at the least expense, the first cost and future repairs or management being taken 

 into consideration, must be the best. Where stones abound on the spot, a wall is the 

 best and cheapest of all fences as such ; but, in the great majority of cases, recourse is 

 obliged to be had to a verdant fence of some sort, and generally to one of hawthorn. 

 This being itself a plantation, requires to be defended by some temporary barrier, till it 

 arrives at maturity ; and here the remark just made will again apply, that whatever tempo- 

 rary barrier is found cheapest in the given situation will be the best. Hedge fences are 

 in general accompanied by an open drain, which, besides acting in its proper capacity, 

 furnishes at its formation a quantity of soil to increase the nutriment of the hedge plants ; 



an excavation 

 {Jig. 589. ), 

 and an eleva- 

 tion (/), to aid 

 in the form- 

 ation of a tem- 

 porary fence. 



A hedge enclosing a plantation requires only to be guarded on the exterior side; and of 

 the various ways in which this is done, the following may be reckoned among the best 

 and most generally applicable : an open drain and paling, or line of posts and rails ; 

 the plants inserted in a facing of stone, backed by the earth of the drain (6), an excellent 

 mode, as the plants generally thrive, and almost never require cleaning from weeds ; an 

 open drain and paling, and the hedge on the top of the elevation (c) ; no open drain, 

 but, the soil being a loam, the surface-turves fonned into a narrow ridge, to serve as a 

 paling, a temporary hedge of furze sown on its summit, and the permanent hedge of 

 tliorn or holly within (rf); and an open drain, but on the inside, the exterior being 

 protected by a steep bank sown with furze (e). The first of these modes is the most 

 general, the second the best, and the fourth the cheapest, where timber is not abundant. 

 Separation fences are commonly formed in the first, second, or third manner, but with 

 a paling on both sides. (See Fences, Part II. Book IV.) 



3924. In the preparation of the soil for planting, draining is the first operation. What- 

 ever may be the nature of the soil, if the plants are intended to thrive, the subsoil ought 

 to be rendered dry. Large open drains may be used, where the ground is not to undergo 

 much preparation ; but where it is to be fallowed or trenched, under-drains become re- 

 quisite. It is true they will in time be choaked up by the roots of the trees ; but by that 

 period, as no more culture will be required, they may be opened and left open. Many 

 situations, as steep sides of hills and rocky irregular surfaces, do not admit of preparing 

 the soil by comminution previously to planting ; but wherever that can be done, either by 

 trenching, digging, or a year's subjection to the plough, it will be found amply to repay 



