cruickshank's practical planter. SS5 



is cool, and nearly surcliargecl with moisture, the 

 most porous, driest soil (sufficiently damp in such a 

 situation), will generally be the most suitable ; and 

 trees of eveiy kind will prosper in sands, in which, 

 tinder a day atmosphere, they would not have sur- 

 vived one summer ; whereas in arid, warm, low 

 country, the deepest, dampest loams and clays are 

 generally the best suited for timber, provided water 

 does not stagnate. And, besides, we have found va- 

 rieties of the same kind or species of tree, so??ie of 

 them adapted to pi^osper in dry air and soil, and 

 others in moist air and soil. Although the above 

 causes prevent a positive hmitation of certain kinds 

 of trees to certain soils, yet there are some which 

 have superior adaptation to moist soils and others to 

 dry ; some whose roots, from their fibrous soft cha- 

 racter, can only spread luxuriantly on light, soft, or 

 mossy soils, and others, whose roots have powder to 

 permeate the stiffest and most obdurate. The above 

 explanations \^ill account for much of the incon- 

 gruity which we find in authors regarding the adap- 

 tation of certain kinds of timber to certain soils. 



In describing the soils suitable for different 

 kinds of trees, INIr Cruickshank mentions, that 

 " the Scots fir will thrive in very barren situations, 

 provided the soil be dry. Dryness is, in fact, the 



