ON SEA-SIDE PLANTING. ’ 11i 
elm, ash, birch, and alder. These, however, all stood on 
ordinary good sound soil. 
An excess of moss or bog in the soil, although dry, has the 
effect of producing a softness in growing trees, which renders 
them less able to resist any unfavourable influence, such as 
frost; or continued agitation by wind in a bare exposure; and 
young plants, as well: as timber, produced in such soil, are 
always short of the ordinary specific gravity. 
No effort was made in this extensive plantation to form 
any description of screen-fence or shelter. Reliance appeared 
to be placed on the extent of the surface planted, which under 
more favourable circumstances would have gone far to pro- 
duce valuable timber. 
The configuration of ground along the sea-side which is most 
difficult to plant successfully is that which is exposed to a 
rough sea, and is only situated a little above high-water mark, 
with a regular slope towards the sea. With an undulated 
surface, a portion of the plantation has always some protec- 
tion; but on land nearly level, or having only a gentle slope, 
the biting influence of the spray precludes the growth of trees 
to a considerable distance inland. Where the ground is 
sufficiently elevated, even on the brink of the sea, and on the 
roughest coast, the effects of the spray are but little felt, as 
its influence is exhausted at a lower altitude. This is illus- 
trated by the thriving plantations on the coast of Norfolk, by 
those on the “Sutors,” which guard the entrance to Cromarty 
harbour, where heavy timber has been produced, and on many 
other high cliffs which border the German Ocean. 
The preparation of the soil for plantations has, under any 
circumstances, a great influence on their future prosperity. 
This requires to be particularly attended to where plants are 
exposed in bleak and inhospitable situations. Where the 
soil is not thoroughly loose to a considerable depth, it should 
be made so by trenching. At a short distance from the sea 
light sandy ground is often found overspread with a close 
matted surface, composed chiefly of the coarser sorts of native 
grasses; this surface herbage, with its numerous roots, which 
