lQ 2 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



is enough, and the tall-growing species should be in the middle, 

 and on the sheltered side, and the dense-growing species on 

 the exposed side. The Douglas fir and other spruces are good 

 for the sheltered sides and are tall, and the Austrian and Scotch 

 firs can hardly be beaten for cold exposures— especially the 

 first. Among deciduous species none surpass the beech for 

 standing either exposure or shade, hence it may be planted 

 freely on the cold side of belts, and during almost any period 

 of a plantation's existence it may be planted under the shade 

 of the other trees in order to thicken the covert. No thinning 

 is needed in belts, which should be planted thickly at the 

 beginning and encouraged to grow up as soon as possible. 

 Double belts are strips twice the width of single belts, and 

 which, in addition to affording shelter, provide a crop of 

 timber by being cut down alternately, so that the shelter 

 always exists. The rotation period is regulated by the age 

 and height of the trees, and while one half of the belt is 

 growing and dense the other half is treated like any other 

 plantation, and finally cleared off and re-planted, the other 

 half being subjected to the same treatment in its turn. There 

 is not much economy in the plan. 



SECTION II. — HEDGE-ROW TREES. 



Hedge-row trees are a device of the old planter. Once 

 upon a time, before the principles of timber culture were under- 

 stood, it was thought that a crop of timber was filched from 

 the land for which the tenant paid a rent, and even yet farm 

 agreements provide for the preservation and care of the 

 hedge-row trees for the landlord. We have often known 

 tenants complain to agents and landlords against hedge-row 

 trees, but never knew of any farmer proposing to plant them. 

 They are of no value whatever to the farmer as shelter, 

 because the cattle invariably destroy the branches up to the 

 shelter line, and the trees destroy all live fences, except beech, 

 wherever they grow. They also hurt crops by their shade, 

 and they rob the soil by their roots. To the landlord they are 

 equally valueless because there is little demand for the timber, 

 which is too rough and often full of nails driven in in mending 

 fences by the tenants ; and lastly, an excessive quantity of 

 hedge-row timber has been often pleaded as a good reason 

 for a less rent. Wherever the farming is of a high order the 

 fields are largest and the hedge-row trees fewest in number, 



