G4 



Tin: III ACTUAL (.AIIDF.NER. 



be the ease the sprin-; after sowiii*'. As \ve ohserveil in rei^ard 

 to alders of the same age, the stronj^cst of these also shouUl be 

 selected first, and transphuUed, which will nt)t oidy improve 

 themselves, but also be of much service to the smaller ones re- 

 maining in the seed-bed. In regard to the distance at which 

 they should l)e planted, one foot or fourteen inches will be 

 sufticient between the lines, and from four to six inches from 

 plant to jdant. Iloeing and cleaning the ground must be at- 

 tended to between the lines, and the seed-beds must also be 

 kept perfectly free of weeds. \N hen ash-trccs attain the height 

 of from eighteen inches to three or four feet, they are fit for final 

 planting out, where they are to remain, and, like the alder, 

 may be planted of a large size with success. In grounil i)re- 

 pared for planting l)y ploughing or trencliing, small plants may 

 be advantageously used, but when this precaution has not been 

 attended to, and the ground is rough and foul, the larger plants 

 slu)uKl only be used. No doubt can exist that land trenched, 

 and otherwise prepared, w ill be more congenial to the first pro- 

 gress of any tree ; but it is seldom possible, we may say, to 

 trench and numure land upon an extensive scale for the mere 

 purpose of planting ; and it is to be (piestioned if the su|)erior 

 growth of the plantation would pay more than the interest of 

 the outlay. As for manuring land intended for extensive plant- 

 ation, we confess we can see no real utility in it, were it pos- 

 sible even to procure manure in sullicitMit (juantity. A super- 

 abundance, or I ven a sufiiciency of manure, is oidy to be (ob- 

 tained round great and populous cities ; and, unfortunately, for 

 those who recommend this practice, there is little ground in 

 such neighbourhoods likely to be planted with forest-trees 

 while capable of proilucing corn and hay. Upon small planta- 

 tions, in rich and highly cultivated countries, this practice may 

 probably be attended with advantages which can never be 

 brought io bear on poor and mountainous tracts of land, where 

 all the maiun e capable of being made is I'ound scarcely sufiicient 

 for turnips, potatoes, wheal, and biirley, crops of more imme- 

 diate value ; and when the surface strata are such that it is often 

 no easy matter to lind soil enough between the fragments of 

 rocks wherein to plant the trees, yet, in such situations, plant- 

 ations have arisen within the last sixty years of thousands of 



