ON SEA-SIDE PLANTING. 115 
at least attends a plantation of silver firs : you may have it 
where you can have no other, and a plantation of silver firs 
may. be better than no plantation at all.”—(Forest Scenery, 
vol. i. p. 90.) I know many fine specimens of the silver fir not 
very far from the sea, but in its immediate vicinity I have 
never observed its powers of endurance to be superior to those 
of the pines; and for the reasons stated it is seldom planted 
in bare and exposed situations. 
The pines suitable for maritime plantations, and more par- 
ticularly for dry and sandy links, I have already noticed. In 
a heavier description of soil a variety of trees as well as the 
pines have also been named. Among willows, the goat- 
willow or sallow (Salix caprea), the white Huntingdon willow 
(Saliz alba), the Bedford willow (Salix Russelliana), grow in a 
saline atmosphere better than most other plants. The variety 
of hardy willows is very great; they are tenacious of life, and 
will grow to some extent in soil of any description, dry or 
moist. Several species are frequently cultivated on the sea- 
side by fishermen, who manure them richly, and raise luxuri- 
ant crops of withs, which are cut down every autumn for the 
manufacture of fish-creels, etc. The black elder (Sambucus 
nigra) and the scarlet elder (S. racemosa) rank among the best 
trees for screen fences, and for forming a thicket in. nursing 
up more valuable sorts. Of the maples, the common sycamore 
and the Norway maple are good maritime trees. The com- 
mon alder and the beech should also be employed, and in 
good soil the ash and Scotch elm. None of the poplars 
except the grey (P. canescens) can be recommended. When 
the soil is of ordinary quality, evergreen oak (Quercus tlex) and 
its numerous varieties endure the influence of the sea better 
than most trees. From the tree being naturally very bare 
rooted, it is apt to fail on being transplanted, unless it is care- 
fully prepared in the nursery, by being yearly removed for a 
few years previously to enable it to acquire bushy root-fibres, 
so numerous that the earth adheres to them in transplanting. 
Such plants. inserted in soil well softened or disturbed, soon 
take to the ground, and form .a desirable ornament near the 
