OF FOREST-TREES. 



85 



my Lord Bacon prefers that which grows in the moister grounds for CHAP. III. 

 ship-timber, as the most tough, and less subject to rift. But let us hear '--^"'^/''^^ 

 Pliny : " This is a general rule," saith he, " what trees soever they be 

 " which grow tolerably, either on hills or valleys, arise to greater stature^ 

 " and spread more amply in the lower ground ; but the timber is far 

 " better, and of a finer grain, which grows upon the mountains, ex- 



val. After this, the crop, if possible, should be eaten upon the ground with sheep. Upon 

 the same land another crop of turnips should be taken the succeeding year : after which 

 the ground will be in clean and excellent condition for receiving the acorns and seeds of 

 Forest-trees. These should be committed to the earth in the following manner : 



Early in the Spring, upon one ploughing, sow one bushel, or three pecks, of oats, and 

 at the same time sow the necessary quantity of acorns, chestnuts, ash-keys, beech-mast, 

 fir-seeds, &c. After this, let the whole be harrowed to cover the seeds. As in all ex- 

 tensive tracts there are a variety of soils, it will be most judicious to sow the different 

 seeds upon such parts as are most suitable to their respective natures. Besides, some trees, 

 though they delight in the same sort of soil, do not grow kindly together : so that the 

 planter will do well to consider this, and only mix such together as are found, by general 

 practice, to grow friendly to each other. And here I beg leave to remark, that where the 

 turnips are cultivated in drills, and well horse-hoed, the land will be in better condition for 

 receiving the acorns, &c. than if the broad-cast method had been pursued. 



In this manner an extensive wood may be raised at a small expense, as the turnip and 

 oat crops will pay the expense of ploughing, seed, rent, and incidental charges. The 

 tender plants being nourished, warmed, and protected by the oat stalks, will make vigorous 

 shoots, and, having no weeds to struggle with the first summer, will push forward 

 with amazing vigoui". As the land sown in this manner will be fully stocked with plants, 

 the feet of the reapers employed in cutting down the oats will not materially affect the 

 seedling Oaks, which before the autumn will have made a considerable progress. The 

 Firs, from the slowness of their growth, will be secure from injury, and the Ashes cannot 

 be hurt, as they do not vegetate till the second year. In some parts of Norfolk, where 

 the land, in general, is of a sandy nature, with a bed of clay or marl underneath, it is re- 

 commended by the author of the above instructions, to raise an Oak wood by sowing the 

 acorns with a crop of spring rye : and I am well informed of the success of that method in 

 one instance. A wood raised in this natural manner will not only make the best timber 

 for the uses of the carpenter and ship-builder, but will arrive at maturitj'^ many years 

 sooner than one of the same age raised from plants drawn from the nursery. The tap- 

 root of all trees corresponds with the leading shoot ; so that when it is cut off, as in 

 planting from the nursery, the tree is weakened in its leading shoot, but puts out more 

 vigorously in its lateral ones. An attention to the correspondence between the branches 

 and roots solves many of the phsenoraena in pruning and planting. 



A wood raised in this cheap and easy manner may be thinned at proper seasons, leaving 

 the most thriving trees to stand for timber, or (which is the most profitable way) it 



