OF FOREST-TREES. 



227 



first year cut them within an inch of the surface ; this will cause them cH. xvill. 

 to sprout in strong and lusty tufts, fit for copse and spring woods; or, by ^"^'"v'^h^ 

 reducing them to one stem, render them, in a very few years, fit for the 

 turner. 



2. Though Birch be of all other the worst of timber, yet it has its 

 various uses ; as for the husbandman's ox-yokes ; also for hoops, small 



■which will happen soon after they begin to open. These should be sown in the senainaiy, 

 about a quarter of an inch deep ; and, after they are come up, should be carefully cleansed 

 from weeds for the first summer. The spring following they may be planted out in the 

 nursery : The rows must be two feet and a half asunder, and the plants a foot and a half 

 distant in the rows. There they may remain till they are of a suflBcient size to be planted 

 out for good. 



Whoever has not the conveniency of procuring the seeds, may soon raise a great quantity 

 by layers from very few stools. Having planted some stools for this purpose, and having 

 headed them down to the ground, let them remain two years before they are layered. By 

 this time each branch will have a great quantity of side-shoots, which being splashed and 

 laid in the ground, every twig will grow, and make a fine plant;, fit to be planted out in the 

 nursery by the autumn following. These plants should be taken from the stools, and 

 planted as the seedlings ; and the stools ought to be refreshed with the knife, by taking off 

 the old splashed wood, and preparing them to throw out vigorous fresh shoots for a second 

 operation, which should be repeated every two years. 



After the plants are of a size to be set out for good, they may be planted upon almost 

 any ground with success ; for the Birch, being a native of Britain, suits itself to all sorts 

 of soils. It will thrive extremely well on barren land, whether it be wet or dry, sandy 

 or stony, marshy or boggy. It sows itself, and will come up in places where hai'dly any 

 other tree will grow. To what advantage, then, may many parts of this island be planted 

 with this tree, particularly such as have the advantage of large rivers, where the wood 

 may be sent off by water ; for where water-can-iage may be had, the broom-maker will be 

 a constant purchaser. 



Whenever coppices of the Birch are planted, with a design to be sold to the broom- 

 maker, the plants should be taken out of the nursery, or gathered in the woods, and set 

 five feet asunder ; and in eight years they will be ready to cut ; when an acre, if it has 

 succeeded well, will be worth about ten pounds. After this, the trees may be cut every 

 six years, when the acre will be of the same value. If plantations of this tree are intended 

 for hoops and smaller uses of husbandry, they will support a cutting for these purposes 

 eveiy twelfth year, and will be worth more than twelve pounds per acre. Thus may such 

 lands as are not worth a shilling an acre be improved with Birch-trees ; an improvement 

 so much the greater, as the nature of the tree will admit of its being raised and planted 

 out at a very small expense. When the land is good enough to admit of the plough, 

 a crop of corn is thie best preparation for a Birch plantation ; but where this cannot be 



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