F O R E S T - T R E E S. 



fpring, to corredl and meliorate the fouriiefs and obflinacv of 

 the foil ; and if you can procure a mixture of more generous 

 mould, and oppofite quality, let it mixed, and often blended to- 

 gether with that taken out of the pits, as foon after as mav be. 

 In planting after this manner on ftiff or wet land, give the greac- 

 eft attention that the trees be planted no deeper than barely to 

 fupport themfelves againft the winds, and that the pits may be 

 dug confiderably broader for their depth, than the ufual propor- 

 tion allowed in loofe dry ground. 



For a century pad the Scots Fir has been the common nurfe 

 of all the better kinds of Foreft Trees in Scotland ; and one mufh 

 be both ungrateful and ignorant, who is infenfible of the many 

 and great advantages that country has reaped from the general 

 culture of this plant. "Without it, in many fteril foils, and ex- - 

 pofed fituations, we Ihould not have had a fpecimen of other thri- 

 ving ufeful timber trees, where now we have beautiful plantations 

 of Oak, Elm, (i^c,. Thus, though nothing is farther from my 

 intention than to depretiate the Scots Fir, yet I muft beg being- 

 allowed to mention others, and which I do on the moft folid of 

 all foundations, experience, that will produce the fame falutary 

 effeds in ten or twelve years they have done in twenty, and that 

 by eafier and cheaper methods than even the fmall expence of 

 railing them.. 



The plants I mean to fubftiture in the place of Firs, are the 

 different kinds of Poplars, and the large Maple, in Scotland 

 vulgarly called the Plane Tree : Thofe being of infinitely quicker 

 growth than the Firs, can be planted of confiderable fizes on the 



