372 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



The expenses for the last ten years, in the general maintenance of the 

 plantation, have amounted to 85, or nearly at the rate of 3f d. per acre 

 annually. This expenditure has beeu for fencing, cleaning drains, and 

 looking over the plantation ; hut does not include forester's wages, or 

 the value of the timber used in repairing the fence. 



No. 2. HOLLEN BANK PLANTATION. Extent, twenty acres. 



This plantation is on the estate of Wass, county of York, and the 

 property of Major Stapylton. 



Exposure. The side forms part of the north side of a hill running 

 from east to west, and therefore the whole of the plantation has a 

 northern aspect. 



Altitude. The altitude ranges from three hundred to six hundred feet 

 above sea-level. 



Climate. The climate of the district is mild, and comparatively 

 moist. 



Character and Condition of the Soil and Subsoil. The soil on the 

 lower portions of the district occupied by this plantation is a light 

 clay loam resting on a subsoil of sandy clay. Previous to planting, a 

 portion of this was very wet, and was drained in the way described 

 under the head of " Drainage." On the middle portion, half-way up the 

 hill, the soil is light loam lying on the debris of underlying rock ; while 

 the upper and higher portions of the district have a soil of light sandy 

 loam, very thin, and lying on the rock. The geological formation of the 

 hill is what is termed " calcareous grit." 



State of the District previous to Planting. Previous to planting, the 

 site of this plantation was occupied by a patchy crop of oak, elm, 

 ash, and alder, with hazel underwood intermixed on the middle and 

 lower portions of it. The upper portion was pastured. This old and 

 partial crop of hardwood and hazel was cut and removed from the 

 ground, taking care that the stools of the trees were properly dressed, to 

 insure their throwing out shoots to form coppice afterwards. 



Fencing. Before planting, the ground was enclosed on three sides by 

 a thorn hedge, one side being without any fence, and on this we erected 

 a wire fence. The straining-posts used were wood and iron. We fixed 

 a wooden post at the end of each length that was strained, and an 

 iron straining-pillar at the opposite end of each length, so that the iron 

 straining-pillar might strain between itself and the wooden one. These 

 posts were according to those already described under the chapter on 

 Fencing. The wires used were the galvanised cable strand. Interme- 

 diate posts were put up five feet apart, the material used being the 

 root-ends of larch and Scots pine thinnings cut six feet long ; and, upon 



