PART VIII. 



PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 



553 



(which ought to be the deciduous sorts most generally grown), 

 should be raised from the seed, where they are finally to re- 

 main. An acorn put in the ground at the same time with an 

 oak five or six years old, will overtop it in seven years*, and 

 often sooner; and Miller says, that they last much longer, and 

 produce more valuable timber-^. Wherever the soil is pre- 



* " We have known an instance of transplanted oaks remaining upon the 

 ground so long as eight years, before they began to move." — Marshall's Planting , 

 Vol. I. p. 122, third edition. 



f " When oak trees are cultivated with a view to profit, acorns should be sown 

 where the trees are designed to grow; for those which are transplanted will never 

 arrive to the size of those which stand where they are sown, nor will they last near 

 so long. For in some places where these high trees have been transplanted with 

 the greatest care, they have grown very fast for several years after ; yet are now 

 decaying; while those which remain in the places where they came up from the 

 acorns are still very thriving, and have not the least sign of decay. Therefore who- 

 ever designs to cultivate these trees for timber, should never think of transplanting 

 them, but sow the acorns on the same ground where they are to grow; for, timber 

 of all those trees which are transplanted is not near so Valuable as that of the trees 

 from acorns."— Mill&r's Diet. art. Quercus, 



This passage should be understood in a limited sense. It has been used, to shew 

 that no oaks ought, on any account, to be transplanted. In my opinion, however, 

 it amounts only to this— that oaks should not be removed at such an age that they 

 cannot, nor upon a soil where they will not, push down tap-roots; for upon these 

 two things depend the quantity and quality of the timber. Without a tap-root, an 

 oak may live a long time, but will not increase in size.— See, as a proof of this, an 

 excellent paper in Dr. Hunter's Georgical Essays, Vol. VI. p. 442. 



All transplanted oaks under seven years old, when finally removed, should be cut 

 over by the surface, in the second or third year after they have taken with the soil. 



At Foxley, Mr. Price some years ago transplanted oaks when nearly one foot di- 

 ameter, which are in as thriving a state as any can possibly be which have been 

 raised from the acorn. The success is chiefly to be attributed to the soil and the 

 moist climate of Herefordshire, both of which are highly favourable to the oak. 



4 B 



