8 LAYING OUT OF GROUND 



of the grass or heath, begin to shelter one another ; 

 whereas, if the plantation be narrow, the young 

 trees can hardly be said ever to come the length 

 of sheltering one another — for every breeze of 

 wind blowing through the whole breadth, acts 

 upon every single tree almost as powerfully as if 

 each tree stood singly and alone. Therefore, it is 

 most profitable for proprietors always to plant in 

 large masses. 



Trees planted in a mass of one hundred acres 

 extent, will be more healthy, and come sooner to 

 profitable size, both as affording timber and shelter, 

 than they would if planted in a mass of ten acres. 

 From this it follows, that if a proprietor wishes to 

 plant one hundred acres upon his estate, he will 

 raise more healthy timber by planting in one mass, 

 than he would do by planting the same extent in 

 four masses of twenty-five acres each. 



No young plantation, upon an exposed situation, 

 should be less than one hundred yards broad at 

 any given point ; and, where the soil is of a hght, 

 thin, mossy nature, and not apt to raise trees to 

 good size, one hundred yards may even be too little 

 for breadth. If there be much mossy ground upon 

 the site intended for a new plantation, or if there 

 be much of it consisting of poor, thin, gravelly 

 heights, as is often the case in unimproved districts, 

 a narrow or small plantation will not succeed 

 profitably. A small plantation may succeed upon 



