PLANTING IN FOREIGN COUNTEIES. 67 



Dutch times at the Cape, a law required every landed 

 proprietor to plant a certain number of trees per 

 morgen, and as a consequence Capetown and Stellen- 

 bosch are now supplied with noble oaks, stately- 

 avenues, and shady walks. It must be admitted, on 

 the other hand, that in the eastern districts of the 

 Cape Colony tree-planting has been shamefully ne- 

 glected. We are glad, however, to be able to report 

 that in this respect a change is taking place. The 

 Divisional Council of Albany has resolved to plant the 

 sides of all their public roads with trees. The city of 

 Grahamstown has been immensely improved by judi- 

 cious planting ; and everywhere — in villages and at 

 farms — tree-planting is in course of being carried out 

 successfully. 



"In M. Eenard's estate of the Park of Enbas, near the 

 town of Houdan, the returns from root-crops were small 

 and irregular, only obtainable after large and constant 

 application of artificial manures, while the frost of a 

 night or so might destroy the husbandman's hopes for 

 the season. Some clumps of Finns sylvestris, whose 

 height reminded one of its stately magnificence in 

 Norway and Sweden, standing in 400 acres of moor- 

 land of the 700 acres or so of the estate, determined 

 the new proprietor, in 1867, to devote the whole area 

 to sylviculture, and he has since systematically pur- 

 sued such a policy with profit, besides adding a thou- 

 sandfold to the amenity of his summer residence. 



"Wood's reaping-machine, driven by two horses, 

 effectually cleared the ground of heath and furze. 

 The area was next traversed by a horse-rake, to sweep 

 up the detritus, which made excellent fodder. Under 

 this heath was a subsoil, mostly of very fine sand, with 

 little iron. This was turned up by a heavy subsoil 



