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CHAPTER X. 



SUCCESSION CROPS OF WOOD. 



One of the most arduous tasks which fall in the 

 way of the forester, is the raising of trees upon ground 

 from which old wood has been lately cut down. 

 The difficulty, however, is often ascribed to errone- 

 ous causes ; such, for instance, as the exhaustion of 

 the soil by the former crop, or the inability of land 

 to raise the same kind of produce twice in succes- 

 sion. As to the soils being exhausted by wood, 

 enough, it is hoped, has been said in our introduc- 

 tory remarks to prove the notion erroneous. Every 

 nurseryman is aware, that the same kind of trees may 

 be raised in the same piece of ground not merely twice, 

 but twenty times, and with the more success, the 

 greater the number of repetitions. The true cause 

 of the difficulty in question seems to be, the roots 

 of the old trees, which, by rendering the ground 

 hollow and open, admit the drought to a great depth, 

 and thereby render it next to impossible for young 

 plants to thrive among them. 



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