76 Catalogue of Works 



their food." " Stirring land in dry weather is the only effectual means of 

 keeping it in a moist state ; the loose mould detached by the hoe operating 

 as a shade upon the soil beneath. Let sand, about two inches thick, be 

 laid upon a piece of broken ground, and in the hottest weather moisture 

 will be found below, while the ground adjoining (not shaded by the sand) 

 will, if not pulverized, be hard and dry for nearly a foot in depth ; and 

 hoeing produces the same effect as the sand. As to any other shade than 

 that produced by hoeing, the plants want none ; and the more powerful 

 the heat of the sun, the faster they will grow, even upon the lightest soils." 

 " Planting, we all know, cannot be done in the worst manner without 

 expense ; and if the extra cost which insures a profitable crop be spared, 

 the object is entirely defeated, and the money which is expended wholly 

 thrown away. It would be quite as reasonable for a farmer to incur all 

 the cost of preparing his land for turnips, and then to lose his crop rather 

 than be at the expense of hoeing it, as it is for a gentleman to lay out his 

 money in putting trees into the ground, and then omitting to expend 

 such an additional sum as is absolutely necessary to make them productive." 

 (p. 12.) 



Mr. Withers pays a just compliment to Mr. Sandys of Wells, " who 

 is no less distinguished for his ability as a planter, than he is for the taste 

 which he uniformly displays as a landscape gardener, in ornamenting and 

 beautifying gentlemen's estates." Mr. S. began to plant upon the Holkham 

 estate about forty-six years ago, and has raised nearly about 1000 acres of 

 the most flourishing and valuable trees in the kingdom ; but Mr. Withers 

 " sincerely believes, that if these trees had been assisted in their early growth 

 by manure, Mr. Coke's estate would have been worth at least 100,000/. 

 more than it now is." Mr. S. first taught Mr. W. the necessity of trenching 

 and cleaning land for trees, and the latter gentleman thinks it no more 

 than just to offer this testimony to the merits of the former. Mr. Sandys, 

 indeed, must be a planter and an artist of great and valuable experience, 

 and we should feel much gratified in being able to reckon him among the 

 number of our correspondents. " Professional recollections and gardening 

 anecdotes " from this respectable veteran would be interesting to every 

 reader. 



Experiment VI. In 1824 "some Scotchmen persuaded Admiral Wind- 

 ham that neither trenching, ploughing, nor cleaning was necessary : that 

 just to raise a flag by making a triangular incision, and putting in a seed- 

 ling plant, and pressing it down with the foot, was quite sufficient to raise, 

 in quick time, a flourishing and valuable plantation; and that, as to 

 the grass and weeds, they would keep the trees warm, and also keep out 

 the drought ; they would, in fact, be a source of heat and moisture : 

 and all this was to be done for 5l. 10s. an acre. Most gentlemen are dis- 

 posed to listen to any proposal for doing work cheaply : accordingly, 

 the Scotchmen were employed, and planted the forty acres. But the 

 plantation is a total failure." The theory offered by these " Scotch- 

 men" is unquestionably false, and the practice they recommended is pecu- 

 liarly unfit for the county of Norfolk, which, from its liability to dry eastern 

 winds, has one of the worst climates for newly planted trees in England. It 

 may be argued in favour of the practice of cross-slit planting, generally, 

 that it is better than no planting at all ; or, in other words, ground so 

 planted will ultimately become covered with trees; that in cold, moist 

 climates it succeeds better than on dry soils ; and that it is well adapted 

 for the sides of steep mountains, where, if the ground were dug or trenched, 

 it would be washed away by the rains. It is certainly a very bad practice 

 in Norfolk, and were it consistent with propriety, we could refer to an 

 estate, also on the east coast, on which we have lately been consulted, 

 where small clumps and strips had been planted in strong clay soil, by a mode 



