ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 119 



growth. To accomplish this properly requires constant atten- 

 tion. It is highly injurious to thin so much, at one time, as to 

 leave the trees remaining exposed to a greatly increased degree 

 of heat and cold, as Mr. J. Brown remarks, it is like suddenly 

 removing the plantation a few degrees farther north or south. 

 So it is equally injudicious to allow the plants to become crowd- 

 ed and interlaced, as thereby they exclude too much light 

 and air, and serve to weaken each other. In rearing a planta- 

 tion for timber, the approved rule for hard wood trees is, to have 

 a space between each tree equal to half its height; and, for 

 resinous trees, a space equal to one third the height; and this 

 should be kept in view from the moment that thinnings com- 

 mence. The period when these thinnings should begin, must 

 depend upon the forwardness of the trees. If acorns are planted 

 in circles, such as we have recommended, they can remain so 

 for two or three years ; the weaker ones can then be carefully 

 drawn out, so as not to disturb those that are to remain, until 

 the plants shall stand three or four feet apart. In the course of 

 seven or eight years, the remaining plants should have attained 

 the height of ten or twelve feet, when the first moderate thin- 

 ning should take place, and, ever after, the rule we have laid 

 down should be carefully followed. 



We have thus, in as brief manner as in our power, presented 

 our views upon the important, though neglected subject of ar- 

 boriculture, endeavoring to give them in a practical form, so far 

 as they have gone. We should like to go farther, and to do all 

 in our power to dispel the common illusion, that it takes more 

 than one life-time to grow a tree. We can, however, do no 

 more than to present the following table of the actual, as well 

 as comparative growth of a variety of trees from the time of 

 planting, until they had made twenty years' growth. The 

 plantation covered six acres in extent, consisting, principally, of 

 a swampy meadow, upon a gravelly soil : — 



Average Average 



feet in height. circumference. 



feet. inch. 



Lombardy Poplar, - 60 to 80 - - 4 8 



Abele, - - ■ 50 to 70 - - 4 6 



Plane, - - 50 to 60 - - 3 6 



