47 



CHAPTEE II. 



THE FORMATION, TENDING, AND RENEWAL OF WOODLAND 

 CROPS. 



In forming Woodlands on waste lands, turf -bogs, poor hill- 

 pastures, or arable land thrown out of cultivation, one must 

 either sow seed or plant young live plants ; and owing to the 

 strong growth of weeds that takes place in our damp climate 

 whenever such land is enclosed and the sheep and cattle are 

 removed, planting is the rule, though acorns used to be dibbled 

 in England long before planting began in the seventeenth 

 century. 



Plantations intended for timber -crops to be worked on 

 business principles should be formed and managed upon some 

 regular plan laying down the objects desired by the proprietor 

 and the general scheme he has in view with regard to formation, 

 tending, management, and ultimate harvesting ; because timber- 

 growing on any large scale can only, like other commercial 

 enterprises, be conducted properly if prudent business methods 

 be adopted. This does not mean that forecasts in any working- 

 plan for forty or sixty years hence should, or could, be carried 

 out just as intended by the present landowner; but later on it 

 will always be useful to know the original intentions in forming 

 and the measures taken in tending the plantations. With 

 regard to the choice of trees for planting, the timber-crops most 

 likely to prove profitable on land of poor quality are Conifers 



