350 Domestic Notices. — England. 



Art. II. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



IVY on Timber Trees. — I am far from thinking ivy a friendly companion 

 to a flourishing tree, and it may have escaped the notice of those who have 

 the management of trees, that cutting ivy down to the ground, in order to 

 prevent it from injuring the tree, is not so good a way as cutting it off as high 

 as a man can reach, and then pulling it down and leaving it prostrate on 

 the ground. The reason is, the sap in the latter case is directed to its 

 extremities, while, in the former, it would be employed in forming fresh 

 and stronger shoots at the root of the tree. I allude to such trees as may 

 have dry, large, straight boles, which are fine objects when not disfigured by 

 ivy. I do not mean to say that ivy should be prevented from covering 

 wretched-looking trees; it being in such cases a pleasing appendage. I do not 

 consider ivy a parasitical plant, but it must hurt young growing timber, by 

 compressing its trunk. The plantations I have the care of have been for 

 some years left to themselves, and last winter I began dismantling them ; 

 but I think it more prudent to defer doing it extensively till spring, when 

 all danger from the frost getting to the bole is over ; for trees thickly co- 

 vered with ivy, when too suddenly exposed in extreme frosts, are very often 

 injured. — Hortulanus. 



Preparing the Soil, previously to planting. — In a very intelligent article 

 on the subject of planting, in the Quarterly Review for October, attributed 

 to Sir Walter Scott, the following passage occurs : — "It may be some com- 

 fort to know, that as far as we have observed, the difference betwixt the 

 growth of plantations, where the ground has been prepared, or otherwise, 

 supposing the soil alike, and plants put in with equal care, seems to disap- 

 pear within the first ten or twelve years. It is only in its earliest days that 

 the plant enjoys the benefit of having its roots placed amongst earth which 

 has been rendered loose and penetrable : at a certain period the fibres reach 

 the subsoil, which the spade or plough has not disturbed, and thus the final 

 growth of the tree which has enjoyed this advantage is often not greater 

 than that of its neighbour, upon which no such indulgences were ever be- 

 stowed." 



The writer here only states his own experience, which is that, " as far as 

 he has observed, the effect of preparing the ground disappears in ten or 

 twelve years." It is reasonable to suppose that much of the effect of pre- 

 paring the surface soil will depend on the nature of the subsoil. Where 

 the subsoil is good and deep, the advantages of preparing the surface will 

 be immense, by giving the roots strength to penetrate into it so much sooner, 

 and so much more effectually than would otherwise be the case. But even 

 where the subsoil is bad, preparing the surface soil will enable the plants to 

 make a more effectual use of it, and the sooner to supply, in the form of 

 leaves and decayed spray, nourishment for themselves. Supposing both 

 these advantages denied, there will remain a third, viz. that if in any given 

 soil and situation a tree can only attain a certain size, whether the soil be 

 prepared or unprepared, it is allowed, even by the writer in the Review, 

 that the tree in the prepared soil will attain that size sooner. This alone 

 will, we believe, in most cases be found a sufficient compensation for the 

 expense of preparing the soil. 



The Scotch Pine. — In the same Review the following passage occurs : — 

 "Such Firs [Pines], therefore, as are ultimately designed to remain as prin- 

 cipal trees, ought to be of this kind [the red pine], though it may probably 

 cost the planter some trouble to procure the seed from the Highlands. The 

 ordinary fir is an inferior variety, brought from Canada not more than half 



