30 DRAINING OF GROUND 



dered at that we have at the present time so many 

 unhealthy young plantations. During my appren- 

 ticesliip I have planted young trees in ground 

 where, when I made a pit for a young tree, 

 I had to plant it immediately, for fear of the 

 pit filHng with water ; and yet the person who 

 had the management did not appear to tliink 

 that draining was necessary. And such was 

 the case with foresters generally at that time. 

 However, the foresters of that period are not to be 

 blamed for not draining their ground previous to 

 its being planted, any more than farmers were to 

 blame for the same neglect before they became 

 aware of the advantages of draining. But the 

 case is altogether different now. Every farmer 

 and forester is now aware of the advantages of 

 draining land, whether it may be for the growing 

 of corn or of trees ; and yet we have often occasion 

 to see this knowledge taken no advantage of, both 

 among farmers and foresters. 



Any farmer who now sows his fields without first 

 draining them, is, by his more intelhgent neigh- 

 bours, considered unworthy of holding his land ; so, 

 in hke manner, the forester who would attempt 

 planting a piece of ground naturally wet, and not 

 first have it thoroughly drained, would certainly 

 be unworthy of holding a situation as forester in 

 any gentleman's establishment. 



The land intended for a new plantation being all 



