ADVANTAGES OF PLANTING. 19 



But, to dismiss a topic which has, perhaps, been 

 insisted on too long, the cultivation of wood is sub- 

 servient to agriculture in a way different, either 

 from improving the pastures or enriching the soil. 

 Considerable quantities of wood are required in farm- 

 ing, and when a proprietor has to build houses or 

 offices on a farm, he will find it a great saving 

 to have wood fit for the purpose on his own estate. 

 To say nothing of the price of the material itself, 

 the carriage of it, when purchased at a distance, is 

 always inconvenient as well as expensive ; and in- 

 terferes with the stated work, both of men and cat- 

 tle employed in agriculture, to a degree that is not 

 only highly vexatious, but productive, at some sea- 

 sons, of no inconsiderable loss. There are, besides, 

 a number of minor uses for which wood is absolute- 

 ly necessary in farming, and for these, on account of 



Hence, one of the advantages of fallowing, and of exposing 

 land, especially when of a stiff quality^ to the winter frost. 

 But; whatever improvement ground may receive from pulveri- 

 zation, it receives in the highest degree by bearing a crop of 

 trees, the roots and fibres of which separate the parts in a far 

 more perfect manner, than any art could accomplish. Those 

 who wish to see the advantages of pulverization fully ex- 

 plained and demonstrated, may consult Sir Henry Steuart's 

 work on giving immediate effect to wood- 



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