26 On forming Plantations on a regular Plan, 



Art. VIII. On adopting a regular Plan informing Plantations, zoith 

 a vietv to facilitating their after Management. By Charles Law- 

 rence, Esq. 



Sir, 



As you number amongst your readers many scientific men 

 and persons of taste, I must premise that, on the present 

 occasion, I have nothing to say to the one or the other; but 

 that my business is with the country gentleman, who is thinking 

 nothing about either science or taste, but who has the cacoethes 

 plantandi upon him, and is about to plant his twenty acres of 

 land this winter, merely as a crop ; and who, should he ever 

 hereafter dream of thinning his plantation, would be much too 

 idle to mark every tree which ought to be removed until the 

 crop was half spoiled; when he would at length merely order 

 men, probably without much more thought or judgment than 

 the tools they wield, to " thin the plantation." 



I am sure I am far within bounds, when I assert that at least 

 half the trees which are planted, whether for ornament or profit, 

 are either disfigured, or rendered comparatively valueless, by 

 being originally planted too near together, or by being allowed 

 to remain too long without thinning. As there are but few that 

 plant who, from want of observation and experience, are capable 

 of directing this operation to the best advantage, and many of 

 those who are competent are indisposed to undertake a task 

 which requires so much time, attention, and perseverance; and 

 having personally felt it a very irksome task to mark a large plant- 

 ation of small trees, it occurred to me, some years ago, that, after 

 selecting those species of trees which were best adapted to the 

 soil under culture, instead of planting them indiscriminately, it 

 would very much simplify both the first setting and the thin- 

 ning, if they were planted upon a regular plan. I have tried 

 this repeatedly, and can strongly recommend the adoption of the 

 system by those who are planting merely for profit, and without 

 any view to scenic effect. 



The first point to be considered is the selection of such trees 

 as are observed to flourish most in the particular locality, and 

 as are known to thrive in the soil you are about to operate 

 upon. The next matter to be determined is the ultimate object 

 in view ; viz., whether you wish to create a permanent wood, or 

 to plant merely as a means of converting land, in its actual 

 state neither profitable under tillage nor as pasture, into good 

 pasture eventually; for this has been accomplished over and 

 over again," especially by the agency of the larch. In order to 

 explain my views intelligibly, I will suppose that the land to be 

 planted has been previously cropped with the view of getting 

 it perfectly clean (a very essential preliminary), and that it is 



