Book III. 



ARBORICULTURE. 



935 



BOOK III. 



ARBORICULTURE, OR PLANTING. 



6742. A TREE is an object which has at all periods been held in a certain degree of 

 admiration by mankind, from its grandeur, its beauty, and its use : a few trees have 

 accordingly been associated with the dwellings of civilised nations in every country. 

 The Persians, Greeks, and Romans were particularly attached to trees : some of their 

 greatest men were proud to acknowledge that they had made plantations with their own 

 hands ; and fine specimens, whether planted by nature or art, were held sacred, or spe- 

 cially protected. (37. ) The Romans, besides the ornamental plantations of their villas, 

 planted occasionally for useful purposes ; they had live hedges, osier plantations, and 

 rows of poplars and elms as props for their vines, (57.) The planting of extensive tracts 

 for timber or fuel, however, does not appear to have been practised by them, or any 

 other people, till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the insufficiency of tt^ 

 natural forests, which had hitherto supplied civilised society in England with timber and 

 fuel, rendered planting a matter of necessity and profit. In the century succeeding, the 

 improved practice of agriculture created a demand for hedges and strips for shelter ; and 

 the fashion of removing from castles in towns and villages, to isolated dwellings sur- 

 rounded by verdant scenery, led to the extensive employment of trees both as objects of 

 distinction and value. For these combined purposes planting is now universally prac- 

 tised : what relates to the effect of plantations, as parts of rural scenery, belongs to land- 

 scape-gardening ; and what relates to their use and culture is the subject at present under 

 consideration. We must however keep both objects in view, as well in contriving what 

 shall be most profitable, as in designing what shall be most ornamental or picturesque. 

 We shall therefore consider the uses of trees and plantations with a view both to profit 

 and ornament ; the kinds of plantations, their formation, their management, the form- 

 ation of a tree-nursei-y, the surveying and valuing of trees and plantations, and the cata- 

 logue of timber-trees and hedge plants. 



Chap. I. 



Of the Uses of Trees and Plantations, and the Profits attending their Culture. 



6743. The purposes for which plantations are made, may be reduced to those which 

 respect the actual consumption or employment of the tree or shrub individually ; and 

 those which respect their collective influence relative to surrounding objects. The first 

 considers trees as affording timber, fuel, bark, and other products ; and the second views 

 plantations of trees as affording shelter, shade, fences, ornament, o-r otherwise conferring 

 value on territory. 



Sect. I. Of the Uses of Trees individually/, as Objects of Consumption. 



6744. A tree is emploi/ed after it has attained a certain age, bulk, or dimension, either 

 in civil, military, or naval architecture ; in the construction of machines, implements, 

 and utensils ; as fuel ; or as affording tannin or dyeing matter ; food or medicine for 

 men or animals ; or poison for vermin. 



6745. For civil architecture the matured timber of the pine and fir tribes is in greatest demand, and 

 foreign deal is generally preferred to British produce, as being of larger growth, and more resinous and 

 durable in quality and texture. That which approaches the nearest to the pine and fir timber of the 

 north is the Scotch pine [Pinus syivestris), when grown in the north highlands, and the larch fir [Pinus 

 larix), when grown in hilly or poor districts ; resinous timber of the species indigenous in cold countries, 

 when grown on rich soils, and in warm climates, being found deficient in durability. Oak and elm are 

 also used in buildings, especially the former, as being of great durability and suitable for wooden bridges, 

 break-waters, joists in damp situations or on ground-floors, sills, wall-plates, staircases, door and window 

 frames, sashes, &c. Elm is not much used in buildings of magnitude, as being apt to twist, and not very 

 durable ; but it makes curiously variegated floors and steps of stairs, and very good weather-boarding fc i 

 sheds and agricultural buildings. Besides timber and timber-like trees for the general purposes of civjl 

 architecture, there are some departments of rural construction, as the formation of fences, drains, em~ 

 bankments, trellis-work, arbors, and the supporting of plants in gardens, which consume branches, spray, 

 thinnings of young plantations, and slioots even of a year's growth. Almost any species of tree may be 

 used for these purposes ; but the branches and spray of the oak, elm, and beech, the weedings of ash or 

 larch plantations, the shoots of a few years' growth of the oak, sweet chestnut, ash, and hazel, and of one 

 year's growth of certain species of willow are greatly preferred. 



6746. For military architecture, by which we mean chiefly the outworks of fortifications, any tree is 

 taken ; but the pine and fir tribes are greatly preferred, as requiring less labor in cutting and preparing. 

 Besides those of a timber size for constructing bridges, portals, and others of less dimensions for palisadoes, 

 chevaux de frise, &c. ; branches, spray, and shoots are used for fascines, and fixed works en haie, en 

 corbeille, &c. 



6747. In naval architecture the oak is chiefly used. According to Marshall, the 

 keels are now pretty generally laid with elm or beech j and part of the upper decks of 



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