071 Laisorence's Plan for forming Plantations. 237 



lakes of Zurich and Thun produce a great quantity of wine, 

 but it is of rather inferior quahty ;*and those on the borders of 

 the lakes of Neufchatel and Geneva produce a wine very superior 

 to it. The wines of Cortaillod at Neufchatel, and those of 

 Ivorne, of Lataux, and of la Cote, in the canton de Vaud, are 

 most esteemed : they resemble the inferior Rhenish wines, and 

 sell readily, on account of the proximity of the country in which 

 they are made to those mountainous parts of Switzerland where 

 the vine does not flourish. The vineyards of the canton de 

 Vaud are remarkable for the enormous quantity of wine which 

 they produce from a given surface, in consequence of the manure 

 which is lavished upon the land, and the care which is bestowed 

 upon the vineyards by the vine-dressers. A produce of 800 or 

 1000 francs the hectare [about two acres and a quarter] is very 

 frequent ; but the expense of cultivation absorbs two thirds of 

 this produce. 



Cherry trees, apple trees, and pear trees are seldom grown in 

 Switzerland at more than 8800 ft. above the level of the sea ; but 

 the vine is not grown higher than 1700 fL, or, at most, 1900 ft. 



Art. V. RemarJcs on Mr. Latorence^s Plan for '' forming Plantations, 

 ivith a View to facilitating their after Management J' By Mr. Archi- 

 bald GoRRiE, F.H.S. M.C.H.S., &c. 



Perhaps there is no branch of rural improvement so much 

 neglected as that of thinning young plantations ; and, though it 

 cannot be said that the evil consequences of such neglect have 

 not been frequently pointed out by writers on arboriculture, yet 

 a slight glance at the generality of young plantations is sufficient 

 to convince any one acquainted with the subject, that judicious 

 thinning is, in the forest, a desideratum. Your respectable corre- 

 spondent, Charles Lawrence, Esq., (Vol. X. p. 28.) has given some 

 very plain directions as to " forming plantations with a view to fa- 

 cilitating their after management," by planting in rows, and sub- 

 sequently thinning out by rule ; and, where the operation of mark- 

 ing out thinnings depends on land proprietors, some sort of royal 

 road may be necessary to relieve them from the " irksome task," 

 which, by the method of your ingenious correspondent, may be 

 safely committed " to any labourer, without superintendence." 



Although this plan appears to me to be liable to several serious 

 drawbacks; such as trees in rows being more exposed to currents 

 of wind than when planted in the ordinary irregular way ; the 

 thinner being obliged to mark for cutting a given tree, although 

 its neighbour might be the belter plant to remain for timber ; 

 and, ultimately, the trees being left all over the plantation at equal 

 distances, for timber, without respect to variety of soil or vigour 



Vol. XIL — No. 74. t 



