FIR PLANTATIONS. 147 



very rapidly ; and in the conrse of ten or fifteen 

 years from the time of this replanting, and when 

 the hard-wood may be expected to be pretty strong, 

 the firs might with propriety be dispensed with 

 altogether, or at least, a few of the best trees 

 might be left, according as the taste of the pro- 

 prietor might suggest. 



SECTION II. SYSTEM OF THINNING AND REARING 



UP OF MIXED HARD-WOOD PLANTATIONS. 



The rearing up of hard-wood plantations to 

 any thing approaching natural perfection, requires 

 much more attention and practical knowledge from 

 the manager than that of fir woods does. 



In a fir plantation, the trees are alike of an 

 upright habit of growth, from Avhich circumstance 

 they are very easily regulated and kept in proper 

 place and order ; but in a plantation consisting 

 of many different kinds of hard-wood, all grow- 

 ing in a mixed state — some, as the elm, inclining 

 to grow much to horizontal branches, and others, 

 as the ash, tending to an upright growth — much 

 attention is necessary for the first twenty-five 

 years, in order to keep the rambhng sorts within 

 due bounds, and from over-topping and injur- 

 ing their neighbom^s which may be less hardy in 

 their young state. And as it is in the young state 

 that hard-wood plantations may be made to do 



