256 



THE planter's guide. 



wood, is described at page 143, &c. If the soil 

 be of tolerable quality — wliich in a nobleman's or 

 gentleman's park is a fair supposition — ^then two, or at 

 most three, single-horse cart-loads of compost will suf- 

 fice, and the pit is to be worked to the depth of 

 from eighteen inches to two feet. In that case, I have 

 done the work at the rate of from 8d. to lOd. per pit ; 

 and the compost (supposing it to be made with animal 

 manure) may be prepared for 9d. per cart-load ; 

 which last is the price usually paid by persons in this 

 part of the country, who prepare it solely for agricultural 

 purposes. 



Should the soil be very thin, or, in an extreme case, 

 should there be no soil at all, but merely barren sand or 

 rock on the spot, and should the owner still resolve to cover 

 it with wood, he must necessarily bring earth for the sub- 

 sistence of his trees. In such a case, every one will ad- 

 mit that, although a striking improvement of property is 

 thus made by the superinduction of a new soil, both for 

 grain and grass crops, yet so entire an alteration of the 

 nature of the ground cannot be fairly chargeable to the 

 planting of it, whether with old trees or young. As may 

 be seen at pp. 144, 145, such improvements are extremely 

 practicable, and have been often made at this place, at no 

 very extravagant cost : but still they are agricultural, and 

 make an adequate return in pasture for the money laid 

 out. 



The above may serve to convey a fair idea of the ex- 

 pense of preparation, when the pits are to be made a 

 twelvemonth beforehand, and the trees and underwood 

 removed after that interval. Should the planter be in 

 haste to obtain the effect required, and be resolved both to 

 prepare and to plant during the same season, then the ex- 

 pense of the compost would be the same as that already 



