ON QUALITY OF SOIL. 



103 



northern comities especially, it is generally put into 

 the ground in so slovenly a manner, that I do not 

 account it matter of half so great wonder, that plan- 

 tations of oak should have so often proved abortive, 

 as that any of them should have even partially suc- 

 ceeded. But to return : As oak is useful for many 

 purposes, and therefore in request, even when of di- 

 minutive growth ; and as, in addition to the value 

 of its wood, the bark brings a high price, so an in- 

 different crop of it will often be more profitable 

 than a full one of most other kinds of timber. With 

 regard to it, consequently, the rule which ought to 

 be observed in other cases, namely, to plant such 

 kinds of trees as the land will bring to the greatest 

 perfection, does not hold good. 



The deciduous trees next in importance to the 

 oak are the ash, the elm, the plane, and the beech. 



With regard to the first of these, the AsJi, it is in 

 vain to plant it in poor land, or where there is not 

 a very considerable depth of vegetable mould. On 

 shallow ground, which is apt to run dry in summer, 

 it grows extremely slow, and never attains a large, 

 or even a respectable size. I have never seen it 

 thrive well in peat-moss, or in land that has a ten- 

 dency to that quality. It should not be planted in 

 rocky or in gravelly soils, as these never furnish suf- 



