TIMBER. 



farmer; wfile. if properly managed, .t may vary the 

 country, and improve its cUmate. In fuch cvels, the 

 hcdtres mould, however, be kept very low, and the trees 

 be trained cn-ft with fingk- ftoms, and few lateral arms or 

 boughs near the furface ; or, as is done in fomc places the 

 width of an ordinary ridije may be left on each lide ot the 

 hedije, to be kept in perpetual pallure, which prevents the 

 corn from being fo much injured by the trees, and is a great 

 ornament to a farm. This laft mode is, however, not with- 

 out its difadvanta;jes, as it is liable to difleminate and till 

 the adjoining tillage-lands with the feeds of noxious and 

 hurt/ul weeds. However, in cafes where the whole farm is 

 to be kept in perpetual pafture,' the trees may often be al- 

 lowed to extend their branches, and the hedges may be 

 kept high or low, at pleafure. Moill or clayey foils fhould 

 never, when under perpetual aration, be fet with hedge-row 

 trees ; and indeed, before they arc put into fuch rows any 

 •where, or in any cafe, a full confiderauon and eftimate 

 (hould, it is faid, be made of their effcft on the annual rent 

 ■of the land, on their intriiific value, on the climate, and on 

 the appearance of the country. 



The writer of the Yorkfhire rural economy confiders 

 this an interefting fubjcft to the proprietors of inclofed 

 •eftates. The old inclofed parts of that neighbourhood, when 

 feen at fome diftance, have, it is faid, the appearance of 

 woodlands ; the inclofures being moftly narrow, and full of 

 hedge -row timber. The age, on a par, is about 50 years. 

 In naif a century more, the value of the timber of fome 

 parts of it, if fuffered to Hand, will probably be equal to 

 the value of the land ; a circumftance, it is fuppofed, of no 

 fmall import to the owner. But the detriment to the oc- 

 cupier requires to be confidered. In this county, it feems, 

 it is faid, to be a general idea, founded perhaps on experi- 

 ence, that lofty hedge-rows are beneficial to grafs-land ; in- 

 creafing its produdlivenefs by their warmth, and giving 

 ftielter and fhade to pafturing-ftock. The roots even of 

 the a{h are confidered as inoffenfive to land in the ftate of 

 grafs ; in which ftate the grounds, thus loaded with hedges 

 and timber-trees, are almoft univerfally kept. Indeed it 

 would be impoflible, in their prefent ftate, to occupy them 

 as arable land. They are entire inclofures, every foot of 

 the areas of which muft neceftarily be occupied by aihen 

 roots ; neverthelefs they give an ample fupply of hay and 

 pafturage ; one to two tons of hay an acre : and, in many 

 of them, three acres will afford fufficient pafturage for two 

 cows of the largeft fize. The rent from thirty to forty 

 (hiUingt an acre. Strong evidence this, it is faid, that the 

 roots of the aftl are not very hurtful to grafs-land. 



It is evident, however, it is thought, that the oak, when 

 fuffered to thruft its low fpreading head into the inclofure, 

 it injurious to the herbage beneath it ; that the leaves of the 

 aftl are very detrimental to after-grafs ; and that the hedges 

 are annually receiving irreparable damage : no general plan 

 of training up the trees with tall ftems having, it is be- 

 lieved, in any inftance, been adopted, fo as to prevent, in 

 any complete manner, fuch cffefts. 



On ihefe accounts it is concluded, that the advantages 

 accruing from the planting of timber-trees in the hedge- 

 rows of inclofed common fields, of a foil and lying in a 

 fituation adapted to grafs, are far fuperior to any diSdvan- 

 tages ariCng therefrom, even where they have been fuffered 

 to grow in a ftate of almoft total negleft. And that land 

 which has lain open, and which has been kept in a ftate of 

 aration during a fucceffion of ages, is equally produdive of 

 graft and trees. That it is generally good management to 

 let it lie in grafs for fome length of time, after inclofure. 

 Befides, that in the above neighbourhood, it is evident to 



o 



common obfervation, that trees flourifh with unufual vigow 

 in newly -inclofed lands of arable fields ; and that their injury 

 to grafs-land is inconfiderable, when compared with tlie 

 value of the timber which they produce. The low fpread- 

 ing heads of the oak, and the leaves of the afli, appear to 

 be the chief inconveniencies of thefe two forts of trees to 

 grafs-land. 



But as an alternacy of corn and grafs is, it is thought, 

 p-enerally eli,';ible on lands which our anceftors have made 

 clioice of for common fields ; ar, J as the roots of the afti arc 

 not only obftruftions to the plough, but the general nature 

 of the plants is, in a finguiar degree, inimical to corn ; it is 

 confequently neceffary to eradicate the afti from the hedge- 

 rows, before the land be again broken up for arable ; or to 

 preclude this tedious rperation, in the firft inftance, by 

 planting oak in its ftead. It is conceived that the head 

 of the oak may be raifed to fuch a height, as not to be in- 

 jurious to grafs, nor to the hedge, while yet in a youthful 

 ftate, even though it were fuffered to run up to its natural 

 height. 



The roots of the fir tribe of trees afford equal obftruftion 

 to the plough ; they are, of courfe, equally objeftionable 

 in the hedge-rows of arable fields. 



It is fuggefted, in conclufion, that whenever the inclo- 

 fures are broken up for corn, the hedges ftiould, in common 

 good management, be headed down, and kept in a dwarfifh 

 ftate ; in which cafe, tall ftemmed oaks would be a valuable 

 fource of timber, without being, in almoft any degree, in- 

 jurious either to the hedges, or to the corn growing under 

 them. But the training of young oaks, and the general 

 management of hedge -row timber, cannot, with any degree 

 of prudence, be left to a mere occupier. When intended 

 as nurferies of timber, they ftiould, it is conceived, be under 

 the immediate direftion and management of a perfon proper 

 for the purpofe. See Pollard and Fence. 



The writer of the Gloucefter Report on Agriculture, 

 however, remarks, that the praftice of planting timber-trees 

 at all in hedges is liable to objeftions ; for if the tree be left 

 to take its natural growth, which is the beft mode of raifing 

 it for good timber, the lower fence is ruined by its fhade 

 and drippings ; or if they are cut up and ftireded into naked 

 poles, or pollarded for the fake of the lop or fire-wood, the 

 timber is injured, and the beauty of the tree deftroyed. A 

 better plan is, it is thought, to affign certain fpots on eftates 

 for the purpofe of raifing timber-trees only. This would 

 eventually be no wafte of land, becaufe the grafs or corn 

 growing near the hedges, which are filled with timber or 

 fruit-trees, is worth little or nothing. In the fmall inclo- 

 fures at the angles of a field, for inftance, the trees might 

 take their natural growth ; and this would be more rapid, 

 in confequence of their being planted in clumps, and pro- 

 tefted. If, however, the old mode of planting in hedge- 

 rows ftiould be continued, the afti may be the beft for the 

 purpofe. The timber, in fome refpedis, is fuperior to elm, 

 and, in various cafes, ufeful where that cannot be applied. 

 In durability it almoft rivals the oak, and its growth is im- 

 proved by being kept to a fingle ftem, the only mode of 

 treatment in which trees ftiould be admitted into hedge -rows 

 at all, but which few other trees will bear. The oak and 

 beech particularly, when fo large as to become heart-wood, 

 appear to be greatly hurt by the lofs of their fide branches ; 

 the immediate effedl of which is a retardation of growth : 

 and it is faid, that the oak will not tlirive for ten years after 

 this operation ; and of the ehn, that it is injured, though 

 apparently fuffering lefs. It is, however, to be noticed, 

 that the fineft and foiindeft trees are thofe which have been 

 moft left to tlieir natural growth. 



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