FOR PLANTING OPERATIONS. 41 



and the drains only recently made, I delay planting 

 such ground till the spring months. 



Where planting operations are not carried on 

 extensively, it may be an easy matter to delay till 

 a certain time in the year, as the private opinion of 

 the party intrusted with the work may suggest to 

 him ; but where three or four hundred acres are 

 intended to be laid down in wood, in one season, it 

 is always found necessary to take advantage of the 

 whole season, from November till April, whenever 

 the weather will permit, in order to have the work 

 all done before the growth of the plants begins, 

 which is generally about the middle of April. Those 

 who advocate planting in the spring months only, 

 say, where planting operations are to be executed 

 upon an extensive scale, " put on the greater num- 

 ber of men, and have the work done in the shorter 

 time ; " but I beg to say here, that those who advise 

 to put on a great number of men, in order to have 

 the planting of a piece of ground quickly accom- 

 plished, are not worthy of the name of practical 

 foresters ; and cannot have had much experience in 

 the results of such operations, as performed at dif- 

 ferent times, and under different circumstances. 



Every experienced planter who has had occasion 

 to employ a considerable number of men, in order 

 to get through his work as fast as possible, is aware 

 of the difficulty there is in getting a large number 

 of labourers from any neighbourhood properly qua- 



