580 



ON USEFUL AND 



BOOK I. 



and the injuries arising from the incumbrance of full grown 

 trees, are irretrievable losses, which those who have the care and 

 management of timber should studiously endeavour to avoid. 

 But while we thus hold out the disadvantages of suffering tim- 

 ber to stand until it be overgrown, it is far from our intention 

 to recommend, or even countenance, a premature felling*/' 



" There are many very judicious observations made on this 

 subject by the Bishop of LandafF, in the Introduction to the 

 Report of the County of Westmoreland, which merit the par- 

 ticular attention of those who are cultivators of oak timber. 

 * If profit be considered' (his Lordship says), 6 every tree ought 

 to be cut down and sold, when the annual increase in value of 

 the tree by its growth, is less than the annual interest of 

 the money it would sell for. This being admitted, we have 

 only to inquire into the annual increase in the value of oaks of 

 different ages/ After various statements, his Lordship fixes 

 upon thirty shillings each as the price of trees which should be 

 cut down ; as, if they be cut before they arrive at that value, or 

 if they be allowed to remain till they will sell for a much higher 

 price, the proprietor of the soil on which they grow will be a 

 loser. He also mentions its being the general opinion, 6 that 

 it is more profitable to fell oak wood at fifty or sixty years 



* Planting and Rural Ornament, Vol. II. p. 98. 



