OF OAK PLANTATIONS. 179 



species of hard-wood trees. The reason of this 

 difference as regards the cultivation of the oak is 

 this: — The oak is a valuable tree both upon ac- 

 count of its wood and bark: the wood is more 

 valuable when grown of proportionable diameter 

 than when of great length, and it is also of more 

 durable quality when freely exposed to the air than 

 when drawn up weakly and to a great height; 

 thence arises the necessity of giving the trees free 

 circulation of air in order to have valuable wood. 

 The oak is also valuable upon account of its bark, as 

 I have already mentioned ; now, in order to produce 

 bark, a tree must have extent of wood, whether 

 that be in the form of trunk or branches. I have 

 seen an acre of oak trees, one hundred years old, 

 cut down and sold for the sake of both wood and 

 bark, which had been cultivated upon the principle 

 of drawing up the trees tall and without branches ; 

 and according to my note-book, which contains an 

 account of the transaction of the sale, that acre of 

 ground, which contained two hundred trees, sold for 

 L.360. On the other hand, upon a neighbouring 

 estate, I attended a sale of oak trees only ninety 

 years old, and which had been cultivated upon the 

 principle of giving free air and room to the trees as 

 they advanced ; and upon one acre of ground, which 

 contained a part of those trees sold, I counted 

 one hundred and four trees, which trees brought 

 altogether L.868, making the oak trees which were 



