General Notices. 131 



the best situations and soils, and remain in that state for many years. The 

 reason, we repeat, is, that by the removal of the sheltering trees, they have 

 been, in effect, removed from a warm climate to one a great deal colder, 

 against which their thin bark is altogether insufficient to protect them. 



The improper kinds of trees for planting singly, to which we refer as the 

 second reason why so much has been said about shelter, are such as will not 

 thrive in the given situation and soil ; the improper mode of planting, alluded 

 to as the third reason, is the neglect of stirring the soil and enriching it with 

 manure or surface soil ; and the fourth reason is, the. planting of single trees 

 with all their branches on. There is no situation in Britain, except a few 

 on the sea-coast, in which the common sycamore will not grow up singly 

 into a very handsome tree, and the same may be said of the Norway maple 

 and the white poplar. For smaller trees, we have the white-beam tree, the 

 mountain ash, and the elder. The last also thrives exposed to the sea 

 breeze ; and, with the sea buckthorn, may be observed in great vigour on the 

 east coast of Scotland, in the grounds of Gosford. Say that we have only 

 two large trees and three small ones fit for planting as single objects, without 

 shelter, in the most exposed situations in the island ; are not these sufficient 

 to vary a park, and break the lines of masses ? 



Planting trees with all their branches on may succeed very well in certain 

 circumstances ; but to inure a tree to a situation where it is to stand singly, 

 it should either be planted when not above 1 or 2 feet in height; or sup- 

 posing it to be 15 or 20 feet high, it should be taken up without any pre- 

 vious preparation of the roots, headed down to 10 or 12 feet, and all the 

 side branches cut close off: and in addition to this, if it should have been 

 taken from the interior of a plantation, or the outside of one in a sheltered 

 situation, the stem should be wound round with a straw rope, or branches 

 and spray should be tied round it from the root to the top. A tree so 

 treated, having its fibrous roots to form, will produce only a few short 

 branches the first season, and these will ripen and accommodate themselves 

 to the climate. The second year these branches will increase in length, and 

 the third year they may be thinned out, leaving a leader and three or four 

 side shoots to form the head. 



In more favourable situations, where twenty or thirty different sorts of 

 trees might be planted singly, we would follow much the same plan. We 

 have seen its success in France, Germany, and Belgium ; even in England, 

 with common English elms and limes, and with several kinds of trees at 

 Smallbury Green twenty years ago, when, the common being divided, an 

 allotment was made to Sir Joseph Banks. The trees, then naked stumps, 

 are now handsome objects. But, in fact, the practice is as old as Evelyn. 

 All we wish is to revive it, and we hope soon to give a practical exhibition of 

 the plan on a park of nearly 5000 acres in the West of Scotland, and another 

 of 500 acres in Kent. We have now given our answer to the first objection 

 to single trees. 



With respect to the second objection, the expense, we allow that it is very 

 great when large trees are transplanted with their branches on ; but when the 

 practice we have just recommended is adopted, it must necessarily be com- 

 paratively moderate. A principal part of the expense will be incurred in 

 fencing, and this will depend on whether the trees are to be protected against 

 cattle and horses, or against sheep only. In the latter case, the stems may be 

 protected to the height of 3 ft., with branches tied closely round them with 

 tarred twine or wire ; and in the former case, we would merely clothe them 

 3 or 4 feet higher. There are a great many ways of protecting single trees, 

 but we know of none so easy of execution, so cheap at first, and so easily 

 repaired afterwards, as that which we have described. Of course it is not 

 applicable to the pine and fir tribe when young, and to young trees which 

 have not a stem of at least 1 in. in thickness at 10 ft. from the ground; these 

 must be protected by more expensive fences, placed at such a distance from 

 the tree as that cattle, when reaching over them, may not touch the branches. 



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