OAK. 



35 



As oaks run more hazard in transplanting than 

 most other kinds of trees, the greater care is neces- 

 sary in procui'ing well -rooted, short, vigorous plants ; 

 in having the soil free of stagnating water, in tim- 

 ing and executing the work in a proper manner, and 

 in hoeing around the plant, keeping the ground clean 

 and friahle on the surface during the first two or 

 three seasons. As young oaks grow much more 

 vigorously under considerable closeness and shelter, 

 and as the plants are expensive, it is proper to plant, 

 along with them, a mixture of cheaper plants, larches 

 or other pines, which also sooner come to be of a 

 little value, to be removed gradually as tlie young 

 wood thickens up. In bleak exposed situations, it 

 is well to plant the ground first with pines, and when 

 these attain a height of 6 or 8 feet, to cut out a 

 number, not in lines, but irregularly, and plant the 

 oaks in their stead, gradually pruning and thinning 

 away the remaining firs as the oaks rise. In gene- 

 ral, pitting is preferable to slitting ; but when the 

 plants are very small, and the ground wet-bottomed 

 (with close subsoil), liable to become honeycomby 

 vdth frost, slitting secures the plant better from be- 

 ing thrown out. 



Oak is by far the best adapted tree for hedge-row, 

 or for being grown by the sides of arable fields, both 



c 2 



