OF OAK PLANTATIONS, 165 



trees to any thing like perfection. Those who advo- 

 cate the general introduction of this system say, that 

 the best specimens of oak trees to be found in Bri- 

 tain are those sown by the hand of nature. But this 

 assertion seems to be far from fully authenticated ; 

 for, of the many famous oaks mentioned in the his- 

 tory of our country as having existed until lately, it 

 is uncertain whether they might have been remains 

 of an old natural forest, or whether they may 

 have been planted artificially by the hands of man. 

 The managers of the Government forests in Eng- 

 land have adopted this method for the rearing of 

 their oak for the supply of the navy ; and I under- 

 stand that the trees so raised are doing well, and 

 likely to become trees of the first magnitude : but 

 still, I am not aware that they are succeeding bet- 

 ter than transplanted trees would have done, had 

 they been planted instead of the acorns at the same 

 time. I have sown acorns in the forest grounds, 

 with the view of ascertaining if plants raised in 

 such a manner did grow much more rapidly than 

 those brought from the nurseries and transplanted 

 in the usual manner ; and from what experience 1 

 have gathered upon this point,' — which, be it under- 

 stood, has been but upon a small scale (upon five or 

 six acres of ground), where they were merely inter- 

 mixed among transplanted trees, and the experiment 

 was made simply with the view of satisfying myself 

 as to the utility of the system, — I am convinced that 



