GROWING GOLD. 77 



naturally ; whether they did so here or not 

 I have no means of knowing ; it is however 

 certain a good crop was raised, and there is 

 not a single vestige of a pine stem of the 

 same age as the old oaks in this place, which 

 is a proof there were not any to draw them 

 up ; indeed there is evidence sufficient to show 

 the oaks originally stood very closely together. 

 Yet, in defiance of this, in the belt and every 

 plantation, the successive planters have 

 thought it indispensable to mix all kinds of 

 trees, regardless of the quality of the timber 

 they produce. On some estates it has been 

 the practice to plant two trees for nurses, and 

 one'^oak, therefore to give all the oaks the 

 benefit of one thinning, all the nurses are 

 removed ; this gives the crop two thirds more 

 room, usually from four feet to twelve. In 

 many of these plantations the oak trees are 

 completely overgrown ; some of them are 

 very tall, others very short; the former are 

 generally small stemmed and with a con- 

 siderable number of branches. When the 

 nurses are removed the wind has such power 



