558 ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



most proper to be followed, will vary according to the nature 

 of the plantation. Wherever the ground will produce vege- 

 tables, as potatoes, turnips, beans, &c. a few of them may be 

 planted or sown in the centre of the intervals (where the roots 

 of the trees do not reach,) for a year or two after planting. 

 This necessarily supposes that the whole will be dug and 

 cleaned annually during that time; and afterwards it may be 

 hoed, two or three times a year, until the trees cover the sur- 

 face, which will generally be the fourth or fifth year after 

 planting. In extensive plantations, all this may be performed 

 by the plough and horse-hoe; except perhaps a little hand- 

 hoeing round the stems of the plants, where it would be dan- 

 gerous to let the other instruments approach too near. In 

 plantations where, from different circumstances, it may be 

 found impracticable to introduce the plough, the spade and 

 hand-hoe naturally present themselves. In cases where the 

 soil will not produce vegetables, or at least where it may not 

 be thought adviseable to cultivate them, the ground should be 

 kept clear of weeds by hoeing only ; or by digging or ploughing 

 a year or two at first, and afterwards by hoeing. Whenever 

 trees cover the surface of the ground, there is no further need 

 of culture; the soil afterwards is kept abundantly porous, and 

 the surface sufficiently free from weeds, by the shade of the 

 trees and the falling of the leaves annually. This is particu- 

 larly the case in woods and groves of resinous trees. It is the 



