Book II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. 637 



the trouble. This is more especially reqmsite for strips for shelter, or hedge- vows, as the 

 quick growth of the plants in these cases is a matter of the utmost consequence. The 

 general mode of planting hedges by the side of an open drain renders preparation for 

 them, in many cases, less necessary; but for strips of trees, wherever it is practicable, 

 and there is at the same time no danger of the soil being washed away by rains or thaws, 

 as in some chalky hilly districts, or blown about by the wind, as in some parts of Norfollj:^ 

 and other sandy tracts, preparation by a year's fallow, or by trenching two spits deepj^ 

 cannot be omitted without real loss, by retarding the attainment of the object desired.^ 

 Mr. Withers of Norfolk not only prepares poor light land by paring, and burning, and 

 trenching, but even spreads on it marl and farmyard dung, as for a common agri- 

 cultural crop ; and at the same time keeps the surface perfectly free from weeds by hodng 

 till the young trees have completely covered the ground. The progress that they make 

 under this treatment is so extremely rapid, as apparently to justify, in an ecofiomical pqint 

 of view, the extraordinary expenses that attend it. In three years, even oaks and other 

 usually slow-growing forest trees have covered the land, making shoots of three feet in 

 a season, and throwing out roots well qualified, by their number and length, to derive 

 from the subsoil abundant nourishment, in proportion as the surface becomes exhausted. 

 (Trans. Soc for JEncour. Arts, -vol. xlv.) Cobbett (The Woodlands, 8vo. 1825.) recona- 

 mends trenching the ground two feet deep at the least, keeping the old soil still at tha 

 top, unless there is plenty of manure, when, he says, the top soil may be laid in the 

 bottom of the trench. There are instances stated, of promising oak plantations, from 

 acorns dibbed into soil altogether unimproved, and of plantations of Scotch pine raised by 

 merely scattering the seedsjwithout covering, on a heath or common, and excluding cattle 

 ( General Report of Scotland, ii. 269. ) ; but these are rare cases, and the time required, 

 and the instances of failure, are not mentioned. The practice is obviously too rude to 

 be recommended as one of art. The best situations for planting, without any other culture 

 but inserting the seeds or plants, are surfaces partially covered Vith low woody growths, 

 as broom, furze, &c. " The ground which is covered, or rather half covered, witli 

 juniper and heath," says Buftbn, " is already a wood half made." Gordon, Emmericii, 

 Hayes, Speechly, Marshall, Cruikshank, and others, have shown that the most etfectual 

 method of raising oak plantations is by sowing patches of 3 or 4 acorns on dug spots, 

 as far distant from one another as is to be the distance of the trees when half grown. 

 The intermediate spaces, if not covered with furze, broom, or native copse, are to be 

 planted with birch, larch, spruce, or Scotch pine. (See 3923.) 



3925. A controversy on the subject of the preparation of the soil previoiisli/ to plantings 

 has lately arisen between Sir Henry Steuart, Sir Walter Scott, Mr. W^ithers, Mr. Bil- 

 lington, and others, which it might be deemed improper to pass over here without notice. 

 Scott contends, that preparing the soil accelerates the growth of the tree for a few years 

 only, and, in as far as it has that effect, renders the timber of a less durable quality. 

 Stuart admits the rapidity of the growth of timber on soils which have been prepared, 

 but seems to allow, with Scott, that the timber will be less durable. Withers and l^il- 

 lington assert, that the preparation of the soil accelerates the growth of timber without 

 impairing its durability ; and the former has cited some experiments to show that 0^, 

 which has grown on good soils and rapidly, has proved stronger than oak which had 

 grown on worse soils slowly. The result of general experience, or what may be called 

 the common sense of gardeners and foresters on this subject, seems to be this : Pre- 

 paration of the soil greatly increases the rapidity of the growth of trees, and it has not 

 been found to lessen the strength of the timber produced ; on the contrary, oak, ash, 

 willow, and poplar, when freely, or rapidly rather than slowly grown, seem to produce 

 stronger timber, than when slowly and stintedly grown on poor soils. But strength and, 

 durability are properties that depend on different qualities of organisation, and it is gene- 

 rally considered that slowly-grown timber is the most durable. We have, ourselves, no 

 doubt of the fact, and more especially in the case of the resinous timbers. W^e have seen 

 both larch and Scotch pine of a timber size, which had been rapidly grown in rich soil, 

 and which, when cut down, had begun to decay in the heart. We would not, however, 

 on that account cease to prepare the soil for resinous trees, as much as for the other kinds, 

 where practicable ; but we would take care to plant resinous trees only on poor soils. 

 We have reason to believe that these opinions on the preparation of the soil for trees, 

 and the durability and strength of timber, are those of the practical men of the present 

 day of greatest science and experience ; such, for example, as Sang, Gome, Main, Bil- 

 lington, and Cruikshank; and therefore we consider them as more especially entitled to 

 attention in a work like the present. 



3926. Whether extensive plantations should be sown or planted is a question about which 

 planters are at variance. Miller says, transplanted oaks will never arrive at the size of 

 those raised where they are to remain from the acoi-n. {Diet. Qnei-cns.) Marshal pre- 

 fers sowing where the ground can be cultivated with the plough. {Plant- and Rur. Orn. 

 i. 123.) Evelyn, Emmerich, and Speechly, are of the same opinion ; Pontey and Nicol 



