^66 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF OAK. 



thriving shoot springs up, so that the plant may be 

 said to receive a new nature ; and it is henceforth 

 as remarkable for quickness as it previously v^^as for 

 slowness of growth. Any person who has a young 

 plantation of oaks in a stunted condition, if he 

 doubts the efficacy of the mode of cure here suggest- 

 ed, and is afraid to hazard its consequences on a 

 large scale, may, to avoid all risk, first try its effects 

 on a few plants. The result of the experiment will, 

 I have no doubt, convince him that my assertions 

 are well founded and true. 



In plantations where thinning has been neglect- 

 ed, we often meet with oaks drawn up as tall and 

 slender as hop-poles by the trees among which they 

 grow. In such circumstances, it is in vain to expect 

 that they will ever become valuable timber ; and the 

 proper way of dealing with them is to cut them 

 down as directed above, clearing away, at the same 

 time, as many of the neighbouring trees as may be 

 necessary for the free admission of air. I have 

 known instances, where this plan has been followed, 

 of the stools sending forth shoots four feet long in 

 one season. The proper time for heading down 

 oaks is between the fall of the leaf and the period at 

 which the sap begins to ascend, that is, from Janu- 

 ary to March. 



