82 Advantages from Planting : Its Limit and Proportion. 



of a given period, have the most to show for his labor. The care 

 of woodlands is not generally as laborious as that of cultivated 

 fields, and, if they are both united upon a farm, the alternation of 

 care from one to the other, as the seasons and the occasion may re- 

 quire, serves to break the monotony of life, and contribute to its 

 enjoyment. 



292. There are incidental advantages to be derived from the planting 

 of trees for embellishment and shade, that can not be separately esti- 

 mated. That they increase the general value of an estate, can not 

 be doubted, and perhaps this might best be understood by asking, 

 how much less would the property be worth ivithovt them. As prices of 

 timber may hereafter advance, the income from stated cuttings will 

 doubtless form a comfortable source of revenue, and there is a point 

 beyond which this may be greater than from any other form of cul- 

 tivation. 



293. In the planting of avenues and parks, in or near towns and 

 cities, questions of public utility, of personal comfort, and of health 

 become paramount to all others, and are altogether above pecuniary 

 appraisal. There are other incidental advantages to be gained by 

 the planting of village streets and parks in the neighborhood of cities 

 that will be elsewhere more fully noticed. 



On the Due Proportion of Woodlands to Cultivated Fields. 



294. In considering only the wants of a country, we must admit 

 that wood is absolutely indispensable for our use that it can only 

 be obtained by natural or artificial growth, and that therefore a cer- 

 tain proportion of land must be devoted to its production. Where 

 from commercial facilities, or colonial possessions, this growth may 

 be obtained by importation, and the land required for its production 

 may be distant, still the proportion must be maintained, or a great 

 future interest must be sacrificed to meet a present want. The 

 actual and relative amount of forests in Europe will enable us to 

 form some idea as to how this question stands at the present time in 

 these countries. 



