OAK-TREE. 
procure timber of the firft quality, to fow acorns where 
they are to remain, or to tranfplant oaks, it is but reafon- 
able that the prattice of ee (generally confidered 
as inferior to that of fowing) fhould be conduéted with as 
and at the diftance of five feet from each other: contigu- 
ous to thefe, and at the fame time and diftance, the remain- 
ing twelve were planted, taking off previoufly eighteen 
inches from their tap-roots, fo that nine inches only of root 
remained. And as he wifhed to obferve the progrefs of 
thefe trees, at the expiration of a few years; on the 
of December 1791, he caufed one of each to be eles 
dug up, which he found in the manner defcribed below 
et 
fa 
conclufion from this pre indeed it muft re. 
from time to time, in order to obferve the comparative 
progrefs of their roots. His intention in thus fla anting 
thefe trees, and remarking at various periods the degrees 2 
difference between their growths, was with a view of af- 
certaining hereafter, whether the planting of perfec oak 
{eedlings, without dividing their tap-roots, might not be 
the means of infuring better timber than by the ufual 
method of planting hice which have been previoufly tapped 
for admitting the oak, from the unremeving acorn, in all 
cafes, to arrive at a fuperiority of — to Ae of the 
tr cries tree, at however earl age it moved : 
r 
oot has been mutilated ; as having fuf- 
tained in its cearacal a lefs deviation from nature. For 
that, in the perfe& tree, alluded to above, the tap-root has 
acquired a regularity of thicknefs in its general growth, and 
that its lateral fhoots are moftly fibrous; becaufe the tree, 
having remained in poffeffion of its natural fource of nou- 
duce, had been ae on repairing 
the damage he had faftained ; ; ee which, the root refumes 
its natural downward tendency, with a alee! that might 
almoft induce an idea that the roo t had n r been at all 
en taken up, in which, 
after the moft careful examinatien, the fame diftin& modes 
o wth appear, as in thefe. It may be farther remarked, 
im, when it is 
confidered they have only been planted five years, and 
were at that time only fifteen inches in height from the 
ground, 
It is flated that, on digging up the trees the following 
were tne 
Admeafurements of each: 
Oaks planted with an entire Root. 
Feet. Inches. 
etal osient from the eons of the one 
I 2% 
Heaght from the groun nd - 7 9 
Circumference clofe to the ground — - - o 61 
Oaks planted with a tapped Root. 
Feet. Inches. 
ened height from the olen as the oe 
‘oot Io 3 
Hele ht from ite groun nd - 6 9g 
Circumference clofe to the ground - - o 6% 
This planter could have fele&ted larger - from his 
plantation, but preferred the above for La fake of accu- 
racy, as they were both planted the fam 
nd it is ftated that the fecond clears a fome con- 
fiderable are from the former, and part of the ancient 
e eftate, was planted with feven hundred 
with the firft. Both plantations are fecurely fenced, and in 
a very flourifhing condition, the trees feemin fuited to the 
foil. They have been carefully attended, and judicioufly 
runed ; whereby they have acquired an upright growth, 
which, together with their being planted tolerably thick, 
will enfin a length o of ftem. And it is concluded that, 
under a continuation of the prefent treatment, he can have 
no room to doubt the future fuccefs of the plantations. In 
fatt, thefe different ftatements clearly demonftrate the great 
advantage of the method of fowing the acorns in the fitua- 
tions where the trees are to remain, and that where this 
cannot be done, the next beft mode is that of removing the 
plants when young, with their tap-roots entire. It is ob- 
vious likewife, that, where thefe trees are cultivated on an 
r. Smith’s trials in Yorkfhire, much advantage has 
been ae from the young oaks having fhelter afforded by 
firs which have obtained a year’s growth, as in a plantation 
made in 1792, and which was lait year joined to this, by 
another piece of land about three acres then taken in. The 
oaks were there fet at the fame time as the firs, but on one 
art were not mixed with them; and in that part they 
thrived fo ill; as to make no progrefs, until fome Scotch 
have af. 
e yea re 
the aa are put in: . froft ameliorates 
h ich 
fe) ts to m 
freely. It 1s noticed that two lands in his plantation were 
i im to mentio 
peaeaie, 
