FOREST VLANTAf IONS. [May, 



tion, pitting may be impracticable, on account of 

 the ftones which are mixed with the earth. In 

 fuch cafes, the planting-mattock muft be reforted 

 to. By this instrument, you fkin off the furface 

 for fix or eight inches diameter, and with the pick- 

 end dig down fix or eight inches deep, bringing 

 up any loofe ftones to the furface ; by which 

 means a place will be prepared for the reception 

 f the plant, little inferior to a pit, and that, too, 

 where a pit would be made with a great deal of 

 difficulty by the fpade in the ordinary way. In- 

 deed, this inftrument may be ufed in many cafes, 

 when the plants to be planted are of fmall fize, 

 fuch as one-year Larch feedlings one year nurfed, 

 or two-year Scots Firs one year nurfed ; and the 

 cxpenfe is much lefs than by the fpade, as ftated 

 more fully under the following article. 



PITTING GROUND FOR PRINCIPALS ONLY. 



It has been hinted above, that preparation by 

 fallow, or pitting, is ufeful in fecuring more per- 

 fectly the growth of the plants, and in giving 

 them a more rapid progrefs in the firft period af- 

 ter their planting. But it has not appeared to us, 

 that preparation, of any kind whatever, has alter- 

 ed the natural value of the timber, or increafed its 

 longevity a fingle year. Trees that we planted 

 twenty-fix years ago with the diamond-pointed 



dibble. 



