268 CORYLACE^]. 



more particularly in the north of England and Scotland, 

 the cost of the acorn system would considerably exceed 

 that where plants are used, and without ensuring the same 

 certainty of success of a requisite number of trees ; for, 

 it must not be forgotten, that nearly the same labour and 

 expence would be required to prepare the holes for the 

 reception of the acorns, as would suffice to plant young 

 trees by pitting, and much more, where this is effected 

 by slitting in, a mode of planting that may be successfully 

 used with small-sized plants, and which we would recom- 

 mend where the soil is of a clayey retentive nature ; but 

 the expence of the acorn system does not end with the 

 mere committal of the seed to the earth, the seedlings 

 must be inspected and taken care of for two or three years 

 afterwards, kept clean of weeds, and the supernumeraries 

 thinned out, all of which operations are attended with 

 considerable expence ; added to this, it often happens that 

 the greater part of the seed sown fails to vegetate, or is 

 destroyed by vermin,* or other casualties, in which case, 

 a similar expence for seed, planting, &c, must again be 

 incurred, and, what is of still greater importance to the 

 planter, the loss of the growth of several years. Acorns, 

 also, it must be recollected, though frequently to be pro- 

 cured in plenty and at a cheap rate in many of the southern 

 and midland counties, are costly in comparison when im- 

 ported into the north of England and Scotland, and, as 

 the crop is uncertain, they cannot be procured every 

 season, whereas the nurseries are rarely without an abun- 

 dant supply of young trees. 



By the plant system, where common attention is paid 

 to the operation, a regular crop of young trees, disposed 

 at such distances as may suit the fancy and views of each 



* See Billington's Planting, from page 37 to page 47- 



