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NOTICES OF AUTHORS. 



timber where the stony nature of the surface entire- 

 ly precludes trenching. 



Mr Withers, who appears to have no general 

 knowledge of soils and climates, would hold a diffe- 

 rent language with regard to Scotland and Scots- 

 men, if he saw the beautiful thriving plantations 

 now rising in that country, planted by mere pitting 

 and slitting, where, owing to the drought in early 

 summer being less fierce than what occurs in the 

 central, eastern, and southern counties of England, 

 and to the herbage being less luxuriant, planting with- 

 out trenching can always be depended upon. Mr 

 Withers would also have been sensible had he had 

 much practice in rural affairs, that twenty loads of 

 putrid manure per acre at planting, although of very 

 considerable advantage for two or three seasons to 

 the rising trees, in promoting, along with hoeing and 

 digging, an early start to luxuriance, would cause 

 little or no lasting amelioration of the soil; That 

 the vegetable mould naturally occupying the surface 

 is generally by itself a much better defence against 

 the summer's drought, than when incorporated with 

 the subsoil, especially after cultivation ceases ; that 

 lasting fertility of ground for timber, though some- 

 times, is often not increased by admixture of soil 



