VIL 
MODES OF FOREST PLANTING. 
In no work in general practice is there a greater diversity 
of methods than in that of forming plantations, 
This arises, to some extent, from the difference in the soil, 
and in the herbage which overspreads it, in different parts of 
the country. On the soil and exposure should depend the 
kinds of plants, and on the herbage the size or description of 
plants that should be employed; and by far the most im- 
portant step in arboriculture is to adapt the plant to the soil 
and climate congenial to its growth. Like every other opera- 
tion that does not yield a, speedy return, the profit of a plan- 
tation must always depend very much on its original cost. 
It is not unusual to see plantations formed at an outlay of 
£2, £3, or £4 per acre (for plants and planting), while 
another equally valuable is formed on ground of the same 
description, and with plants of the same kind, at less than 
half the cost. This sometimes arises from the size of the 
plants employed, and also from the mode of inserting them. 
Sometimes the most costly mode will altogether fail, while 
the least so is a complete success ; but I have also observed 
the reverse of all this—where the modes of planting reckoned 
least expensive failed again and again, and the costly method 
had to be adopted, which, under the circumstances, should at 
first have been resorted to. The success of plantations, there- 
fore, greatly depends on the skill and experience of the fores- 
ter. I shall now detail as minutely as I can the different 
modes of inserting the plants, and the sizes of the plants, 
which I have found most successful under various circum- 
stances. The mode of operation, the time or season of per- 
