PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 52? 



spring up again, while a certain number, from fifteen to thirty 

 feet distance, are preserved until their timber be full grown ; 

 but the trees, being once planted, are allowed to grow up to- 

 gether, only a few being thinned out where they are too much 

 crowded, and even this is little attended to. Those removed 

 are either cut over, or grubbed out by the roots, as is found 

 most convenient, without any regard to propriety. In con- 

 sequence of this management, a few bushes of undergrowth are 

 found in some places, and the rest of the ground, if not shaded 

 too much by the crowded trees, is covered with pasture ; and 

 neither the pasture, nor the undergrowth, from being inter- 

 mixed, can be turned to the advantage of the proprietor. 

 There are other plantations where undergrowth exists among 

 timber- trees in a more general way, but of kinds which are of 

 little or no use, except for fuel ; and this is by no means a pro- 

 fitable article, particularly in a coal country. But, on the other 

 hand, there are woods in some places where both timber and 

 undergrowth are cultivated ; and it is from seeing the great 

 profits obtained by the proprietors of these, that I make the 

 following observations on the advantage of raising oak under- 

 growth in woods. The high price given for oak bark is gene- 

 rally known; and the sum given for an acre of oaks, from 

 twelve to twenty-five years old, valuable for the bark alone, is 

 very considerable. Among the instances that occur to me at 

 present, the Duke of AthoFs woods at Dunkeld appear the most 



