720 Queries cmd /h/sivers. 



rial, and cause it to fall down upon the earth. I believe this to be an old 

 plan, and an effectual one." 



The Elvis in Camberwell Grove, Sfc. (p. 630.) — I cannot answer the 

 query in this case, having never seen the elms in Paris; but their pro- 

 ducing abundance of seed is no criterion of distinction. A green-house 

 plant will sometimes flower better in a poor man's window than in a first- 

 rate green-house under a first-rate gardener. The question is too vague 

 to be answered. I believe there are as many varieties of oaks and elms 

 in England as there are of apples and pears. — Agronome. Oct. 29. 1833. 



The Lag in Timber, (p. 629.) — An experienced forester can as readily dis- 

 cern when a tree is affected with the lag, as an experienced shepherd can 

 discern when his sheep is affected with the rot ; and the knife for the sheep 

 and the axe for the tree are the best remedies for each. The immediate 

 cause of the disease (the lag) may, however, be generally traced back to 

 a wet summer and an early winter j such as those of the year 1816 and the 

 year 1822. The alburnum in these sea.sons never got thoroughly ripened, 

 because the leaves had not a chance of finishing their labours of pumping 

 off the extra-moisture; and as the tree, in such a case, becomes top-heavy, 

 and is easily blown about by the winds, the weakest circle fails first. — 

 Agronome. Oct. 29. 1833. 



Treatment of a Plantation of young Oaks. — Your correspondent, " A 

 Reader " (p. 630.) should by no means cut down his young oaks, but 

 should prune them well and properly for ten or twelve years to come ; 

 that is, with a long chisel and mallet, to strike off all rival leaders, and all 

 such boughs as intrude upon the adjoining trees. Should any of the trees 

 have a head like a besom, weed out three fourths of it, preserving a 

 leader. Should the trees be only 4 ft. apart, they may stand thus till 

 every one is fit for sawing down into two 9-ft. rails. Then the forester 

 should keep on felling the worst every year, till the trees stand about 20 ft. 

 asunder, when he must leave the estate to his son. — Agronome. Oct. 1833. 



Treatment of a Plantation of young Oaks. (p. 630.) — Assuming the soil 

 to be favourable to the quick growth of oak, from that tree having been 

 selected, I would cut down, as soon as they will peel, in the sprint, as 

 many of the trees as will leave a crop for timber, standing at least 60 ft. 

 apart, and cut them very carefully 3 or 4 in. above the ground, so as not 

 to injure or wound the stool. If the trees are left thicker than I have 

 mentioned, they will materially injure the growth from the stools. I 

 should not recommend an increase of the stools by layering; because al- 

 though new stools will be thereby more quickly established, they will, of 

 necessity, be much too near together. A great deal of produce is sacri- 

 ficed annually in coppices, as in most other crops, by filling them up too 

 closely, and thereby excluding the sun and air, so essential to their fer- 

 tility. I am strongly inclined to think that, where oak coppice thrives 

 well, the stool, in a given number of years, will pay better than the timber ; 

 the bark of the young growths being very superior in quality ; but an 

 owner of woodland in Herefordshire would be a better authority for " A 

 Reader's" guide than I am. — Charles Lawrence. Cirencester, Oct. 4;. 1833. 



Treaf.me7it of a Plantation of young Oaks. (p. 630.) — "A Reader " would 

 more readily have obtained an answer to his query, had he entered a little 

 more into details, and stated the exposure, and the quality of the soil, of 

 his plantation ground, and also the distance at which the trees at present 

 stand from each other, &c. If the oaks have been planted at what is ge- 

 nerally admitted to be the proper distance, viz. 8 ft. apart every way, then 

 the most profitable method of managing the plantation is turning i't into 

 copsewood; as, if allowed to remain long at this distance, even "A 

 Reader" will, I think, on reflection, confess'that it is quite impossible for 

 them to become useful timber. Supposing this to be the case, I would 

 advise, witliout further delay, that the plantation should be thinned out ; 



