PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING, 447 



her navy, her consequence as a nation will certainly be in 

 danger*. 



Besides the intrinsic value of timber, there is another way in 

 which wood is very profitable ; that is, by affording shelter to 

 exposed lands. In many places, strips of wood alone, with 

 little or no culture bestowed on the soil, have rendered pastu- 

 rage of threefold its former value. In the north of Scotland, 

 belts, and even single rows of larches, have operated so rapidly 

 and powerfully in this way, that their effects are hardly credi- 

 ble by any but those who have been eye-witnesses. Even on 

 estates where plantations are unfit for cutting down either as 

 timber or copse, or though they should be so young as to afford 

 no shelter, still they are valuable when we look forward to fu- 

 turity; and the planter, should he be disposed to sell his 

 estate, is sure of being handsomely rewarded for his trouble. 

 " Thus supposing the half-grown timber on an estate to be va- 

 lued at ten thousand pounds on the day of sale, instances are 

 not wanting where twenty, nay, twenty-five thousand have 

 been given over and above the value of the land-f." 



* See the Report given in by the Commissioners appointed by Parliament, some 

 years ago, to inquire into the state of the Royal Forests, 

 f Practical Planter, p. 341. 



