ADVANTAGES OF PLANTING. 



11 



of the trees. It is a very common objection to the 

 cultivation of wood, that it encroaches on the extent 

 of our pastures, and thereby has a tendency to di- 

 minish the numbers of our cattle. Were this true, 

 it would have no weight as an argument, as we have 

 already proved that the waste lands of this country 

 are infinitely more profitable when employed in 

 raising wood than in raising live stock. Nothing, 

 however, can be more false. For twenty or thirty 

 years after a piece of ground is planted, indeed, cat- 

 tle must be entirely excluded, as, if admitted, they 

 would utterly destroy the young trees. But, du- 

 ring this period, the pasturage is undergoing a very 

 great amelioration. As the trees grow up, the 

 heath, which affords little nourishment, is gradual- 

 ly eradicated, and its place supplied by a tender 

 natural grass, that makes excellent food for cattle. 

 The pasturage thus becomes, at least, three times 

 more valuable than it was before, at the same time 

 that it has the advantage of being so well sheltered, 

 that cattle may be turned abroad upon it much ear- 

 lier in spring, and kept on it later in autumn, than 

 the cold will permit in the open fields. In the shel- 

 ter of a wood, indeed, lean stock may be sent abroad 

 at every season of the year, without sustaining the 

 smallest injury. 



