76 ON PLANTING WHERE TIMBER HAS BEEN FELLED. 
The oak, after yielding a heavy crop of timber, springs up 
from well-dressed stools far stronger than in the best planta- 
tions newly formed on virgin soil. 
After a crop of any sort of pine timber is cleared off few 
aspects are more bare and unsightly. This suggests the pro- 
priety of interspersing such with a few oak plants, although 
at the distance of thirty feet apart, for which forty-eight 
plants only are required per acre; and although these are 
scarcely discernible during the vigour of the pines, yet, being 
tenacious of life, they keep the ground, become deep rooted, 
and are ready to spring up on the removal of the crop of 
timber. In such cases, or in the case of fire destroying a 
plantation, the oak acts a conspicuous part, in speedily renew- 
ing the appearance, and ultimately becoming valuable. 
In all cases where the soil is ordinarily moist and good, 
few plants are of more profit for timber at present than the 
grey poplar, P. canescens, the Italian poplar, P. monilzfera, 
and the best varieties of tree willow. The timber of all 
these is of rapid growth, and much sought after in the forma- 
tion of railway carriages, brakes, ete. 
The time of inserting plants in the prepared spots by a 
notch with the common spade, or by common pit planting in 
such ground, will depend on the nature of the soil; if dry, 
the planting should be performed so as that they may have 
the advantage of the winter moisture; if the ground is pos- 
sessed of ordinary moisture, early spring should be preferred. 
