Book III. 



FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS. 



945 



spot, a wall is the best and cheapest of all fences as such ; but, in the great majority of 

 cases, recourse is obliged to be had to a verdant fence of some sort, and generally to one 

 of hawthorn. This being itself a plantation, requires to be defended by some temporary 

 barrier, till it arrives at maturity ; and here the remark just made will again apply, that 

 whatever temporary barrier is found cheapest in the given situation will be the 

 best. Hedge fences are in general accompanied by an open drain, which, besides, 

 acting in its proper capacity, furnishes, at its formation, a quantity of soil to increase 

 the pasturage of the hedge plants ; and an excavation {fig. 634. a), and an elevation (/), 

 to aid in the formation of a temporary fence. A hedge enclosing a plantation, requires 



only to be guarded on the exterior side, and of the various ways in which this is done, the 

 following may he reckoned among the best and most generally applicable. By an open 

 drain and paling, or line of posts and rails (a), the plants inserted in a facing of stone, 

 or in a facing of sub-soil from the bottom of the drain, backed by the earth of the drain (b); 

 an excellent mode, as the plants generally thrive, and almost never require cleaning from 

 weeds ; an open drain and paling, and the hedge on the top of the elevation (c) ; no open 

 drains, but the soil being a loam, the surface-turves formed into a narrow ridge, to serve 

 as a paling, a temporary hedge of furze sown on its summit, and the permanent hedge of 

 thorn or holly within (rf) ; and an open drain, but on the inside, the exterior being protected 

 by a steep bank sown with furze (<?) The first of these modes is the most general, the se- 

 cond the best, and the fourth the cheapest, where timber is not abundant. Separation fences 

 are commonly formed in the first, second, or third manner, but with a paling on both sides. 



6821. Shelter. Many situations are so exposed that it is extremely difficult to rear trees without some 

 mode of procuring shelter for them during their early growth. This is obtained either by walls, the ex- 

 tent of whose influence is only limited ; by thick planting, or by planting the more hardy and rapid- 

 growing species, to nurse up and protect such as are more tender, but ultimately more valuable. The 

 proportion of nurses to principals is increased according to the bleakness of the site. Pontey says, " both 

 authors and planters are in the habit of erring egregiously, in regard to the proportion of principals and 

 nurses ; as they generally use as many, or more of the former than the latter ; though it is very easy to 

 show, that they ought to use three times as many of the latter as the former. For instance, when trees 

 are planted at four feet apart, each occupies a surface of sixteen feet ; of course four of them will oc- 

 cupy sixty-four, or a square of eight feet ; and therefore, if we plant three nurses to one principal 

 tree, all the former might be displaced gradually, and the latter would still stand only eight feet apart 

 Nurse-plants should, in every possible case, be such as are most valuable at an early period of growth. 

 The larch and spruce fir should be used liberally, in every case where they will grow freely ; still it is 

 not intended that they should exclude all others, more particularly the birch, which has most of the 

 properties of a good nurse, such as numerous branches and quick growth, on any tolerable soil or situ- 

 ation. It is not, however, like the others, a wood of general application." {Profitable Planter, p. 113.) 

 Sang also adopts the proportion of three nurses to one principal, and employs chiefly the resinous tribe, 

 and looks to them for reimbursement till the hard timber has attained to a foot in diameter, under which 

 size hard timber is seldom of much value. His principals are planted at from six to ten feet apart, ac- 

 cording to the soil and situation. {Plant. Kal. p. 166.) 



6822. In procuring shelter much depends on the mode of commencing and continuing plantations on 

 bleak sites. Sang, who has had extensive experience on this subject, observes, that " every plain, and 

 most fields and situations for planting, in this country, have what may be called a windward side, which 

 is more exposed to the destructive blast than any other. It is of very great importance to be apprised 

 of this circumstance ; and to be able to fix upon the most exposed side of the proposed forest plantation. 

 Fix, then, upon the windward side of the plain which is to be converted into a forest ; mark off a hori- 

 zontal stripe, or belt, at least a hundred yards in breadth. Let this portion of ground be planted thick, 

 say at the distance of thirty inches, or at the most three feet, with a mixture of larch, sycamore, and elder, 

 in equal quantities, or nearly so, if the soil be adapted for rearing these ; but if it be better adapted for 

 Scots pines, then let it be planted with them at the distances prescribed for the above mixture. We have 

 no other kinds that will thrive better, or rise more quickly in bleak situations, than those just mentioned. 

 When the trees in this belt, or zone, have risen to the height of two feet, such hard-wood trees as are 

 intended ultimately to fill the ground should be introduced, at the distance of eight or ten feet from 

 each other, as circumstances may admit At this period, or perhaps a year or two afterwards, accord- 

 ing to the bleak or exposed situation of the grounds, let another parallel belt, or zone, of nearly equal 

 breadth, be added to the one already so far grown up, and so on, till the whole grounds be covered. It 

 is not easy here to determine on the exact breadth of the subsequent belts or zones : this matter must 

 be regulated by the degree of exposure of the grounds, by the shelter afforded by the zone previously 

 planted, and by such like circumstances." {Plant. Kal. p. 29.) 



6823. In situations exposed to the sea-breeze a similar plan may be successfully followed, and aided in 

 effect, by beginning with a wall ; the first belt having reached the height of the wall, plant a second, 

 a third, and fourth, and so on till you cover the whole tract to be wooded. In this way the plantations 

 on the east coast of Mid- Lothian, round Gossford House, were reared; and in Sang's manner, the 

 mountains of Blair and Dunkeld were clothed ; and examples, we are informed, might be drawn even 

 from the Orkney and Shetland islands. /\ ' i\ 



6824. The species of tree to be planted must ever depend chiefly on the situation and soil, but partly 

 also on the sort of product desired as the most profitable, and on the importance attached to shelter. As 

 a general principle it may be observed, that the tree which will thrive the best, will tum out the most 

 profitable : for, though its timber may not be of the highest-priced kind, yet there will be quantity as 

 compensation for inferior qualitv. In rocky irregular surfaces there is generally great variety of situ- 

 ation and depth of soil ; and here a corresponding variety of trees may be introduced, and the more 

 valuable sorts, as the oak, ash, elm, poplar, &c. will no where thrive better than at the foot of precipices, 

 and in narrow dells and other sinuosities, where there is at once shelter and a good depth of dry soil. 

 The thriving of trees and plants of every kind, indeed, depends much more on the quantity of available 



