OF FOREST-TREES. 



77 



dentures of the leaf; and so of the bark, asperous or smooth, brown or cHAP. III. 

 bright, &c. Though most, if not all of them, may rather be imputed to "^^""^^-^ 

 the genius and nature of the soil, situation or goodness of the seed, than 

 either to the pretended sex or species. And these observations may 

 serve to discover many accidental varieties in other trees, without nicer 

 distinctions, such as are fetched from professed botanists, who make it 

 not so much their study to plant and propagate trees, as to skill in their 



by being thus cross-ploughed and well-harrowed, will be in proper order for their 

 reception. The manner of planting the sets is as follows : 



First, carefully take the plants out of the seed-bed, shorten the tap-root, and take off 

 part of the side-shoots, that there may be an equal proportion of strength between the stem 

 and the root. If the wood is designed to be but small, ten, twenty, or thirty acres, then 

 lines may be drawn, and the trees planted in rows, four feet distant from each other, and 

 the trees two feet asunder in the row : each lino must have a man and a boy for planting. 

 The ground being made light and pliable by cross-ploughing and harrowing, the man 

 strikes his spade into the earth close to the line; he then takes it out and gives another 

 stroke at right angles with it ; then the boy, having a parcel of plants under his left arm, 

 takes one with his right-hand, and readily puts it into the crevice made by the spade at 

 the second stroke : after this the man gently presses the mould to it with his foot, and 

 thus the young Oakling is planted. He proceeds in the same manner to the next, and so 

 on till all is finished. An active man will, with his boy, plant 1500 or 2000 in a day ; and 

 while they are planting, others should be employed in taking up fresh sets from the seed- 

 bed, sorting them and preparing their roots. In short, a sufficient number of hands 

 should be set to every part of this work, that the whole may be carried on with despatch 

 and regularity ; for the ground cannot be too soon furnished with its plants, after it is in 

 readiness to receive them ; neither can the plants be put too eai-ly into the ground, after 

 they are taken up from the seminary. Those plants which are nearly of the same size 

 should be made to occupy a large quarter together, and the weakest should be left in the 

 seminary a year longer to gain strength. 



The trees, either for small or large plantations, being in the ground, the first care should 

 be to fence them well from cattle, and -even, if possible, from rabbits and hares. The next 

 should be, to keep them clear from weeds, that they may not be incommoded in their 

 growth. In all lands, weeds must be carefully watched, and destroyed at their first appear- 

 ance. In small plantations hoeing may do ; but where the plantations are large and noble, 

 a double-shelving plough should be provided ; and when the weeds are got two or three 

 inches high, this must be drawn exactly down the middle of each row by horses with their 

 mouths muzzled, somebody leading the foremost horse ; this plough will effectually thi'ow 

 a ridge each way, so that the edge of it will be almost contiguous to the plants on both 

 sides. This being done, the whole surface of the ground will be changed, and the weeds 

 all buried, except a few about the stems of the plants, which a man following the plough 

 should cut or pluck up. In this manner the ground may lie until a fresh crop of weeds 

 present themselves ; when these ai'e about three inches high, a common plough should be 



