4?8 ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



pieces, Sec. which are of great use in ship-building, and al- 

 ways bear a higher price than any other form of oak timber. 

 But every tree need not be bent exactly alike. Some need 

 only be bent gently to one side; others more so, as fig. 4. 

 This variation in the inclination of the trees, with those which 

 should be left erect, would serve to produce proper shelter for 

 the whole plantation, a section of which might appear as fig, 5. 

 according to the purposes for which they are intended, or to 

 the form most in demand. This experiment is certainly worth 

 trying ; and there is no great reason to doubt its success ; for 

 practice of bending trees is not new ; it was recommended by 

 Evelyn, and practised by the Romans in Virgil's time. — See 

 Hunter s Evelyns Syfoa, p. 48. and Georgic n. 



In planting the larch, for this, or any other purpose, the ut- 

 most care must be taken to choose a suitable soil, otherwise (as 

 will appear in next section) the most dangerous consequences 

 may ensue. But this tree, even when in a soil not too rich, 

 grows to a lajge size, and soon arrives at maturity, and it is 

 evident, that if the above method were adopted, the timber 

 would be fit for building the largest ships fifty years after it 

 was planted, and for building smaller vessels much sooner. 

 There is abundant evidence, that it would grow to a sufficient 

 size for this purpose in all the mountainous parts of the island ; 

 and Mr. Knight's experiments on the sap and wood of trees, as 



