566 



ON USEFUL AND 



BOOK I, 



mines, where wood of this kind is much wanted by the miners 

 for supporting the superstrata. Where the fir tribe have been 

 planted as nurses, they should be grubbed out gradually as 

 they begin to injure the principal trees. Groves of deciduous 

 trees should be thinned out after the same manner ; only, the 

 operation may go on until the trees have arrived at nearly their 

 full size. Woods (where undergrowth is always intended if 

 they are properly planted) require no thinning, except when 

 nurses are planted, or when the timber trees are too much 

 crowded by- the low growths: the whole should grow for twelve 

 or fifteen years, until it is proper to cut over the undergrowth ; 

 and at that time the strongest trees should be pitched upon, 

 and left as standards. Copsewoods grow a certain length, ac- 

 cording to their kind, and then are cut wholly over by the sur- 

 face; of course, they require less thinning, unless nurses have 

 been planted among them; and both in woods and copses, 

 these, as they are removed, should be replaced with the prin- 

 cipal tree. Whenever ornament is in any degree considered, 

 the trees or copse left should not be equidistant from one 

 another, but, as formerly mentioned, in groups of irregular 

 thickness. Indeed, this mode may be adopted even in woods 

 where utility is the chief consideration; as it will make no ma- 

 terial difference in the produce of timber, and is so much more 

 natural. In every part of planting, beauty and utility may be 

 combined. 



