WOODS AND PLANTATIONS. 375 



Climate. In the winter season, from the exposed position of the 

 district, the climate is cold and severe. In the summer the lands are 

 parched and dried up by the heat of the sun. There are farms on three 

 sides of this enclosure, and in each of these, and in many others in the 

 same district, there is generally felt a great want of water in the summer 

 season. In fact, at any season of the year there is no water supply 

 excepting what is collected from off the roofs of houses, and into ponds 

 for the cattle from the surface of the fields in heavy showers, there 

 being no springs or streams on the plateau. Previous to 1862 there 

 were no plantations of any extent in the higher portions of the district. 

 Since then nearly nine hundred acres of plantations have been formed 

 on sites deemed suitable for giving shelter. I am inclined to believe 

 that in the course of time, when these plantations have arrived at such 

 a growth as to cover the surface of the enclosures, the moisture and 

 rains falling on the surface will be there retained; and the proba- 

 bility is that there will be a plentiful supply of water in the district 

 by the formation of springs caused by the accumulation of moisture in 

 the soil. The rainfall in the district is considerable. 



Character and Condition of Soil and Subsoil. The soil over the greater 

 portion of the enclosure is a sandy peat, with a subsoil of a sandy 

 nature, and between the soil and subsoil there is more or less of a hard 

 pan. This pan, or, as it is sometimes called, moor-band pan, is not over 

 one inch thick. 



There are many tracts of land of this description in the north of 

 England and Scotland, the soils of which are of a light sandy nature, 

 the subsoil being a hard pan. Where such a pan exists in the sub- 

 soil, trees do not in general thrive well unless the district is either 

 systematically drained, so as to open out this pan to the action of 

 the air, or unless the pan is otherwise broken up and made free 

 and open. If the pan is not broken through, the trees never attain 

 to such a size as they will do when the roots are allowed to penetrate 

 the soil. 



In winter, and wet weather generally, the water that falls on such 

 land does not pass through the pan, in consequence of its hard nature, 

 but lies stagnant about the roots of the plants, and thus in a short time 

 they become diseased at a very early stage of their growth. On the con- 

 trary, in dry weather, and especially when rain has not fallen for some 

 length of time, the roots are prevented by the pan from drawing moisture 

 from the suboil. 



As I have already stated, drainage is a good cure for this pan, and 

 also by having it broken up, as I shall afterwards show when treating 

 of the mode of planting the enclosure under notice. 



