GUIDE 



[13] 



and guided by marker staves, traces longitudinal lines, while others, crossing at right- 

 angles, lay out the transversals. Each intersection marks the spot where a tree will be 

 planted. Workers prepare the ditches, more or less deep, depending on the type of soil 

 and the saplings. Next, planters line up along sections of the lines, place the tree roots at 

 the intersections, and plant them there. The distances between the trees depend on their 

 nature, the terrain where they will be, and the purpose of the planting. If one intends to 

 plant a copsewood in mediocre soil the saplings arc set five feet apart. If, on the other 

 hand, the soil is rich and deep, they are placed six feet apart. If the plan is to grow trees to 

 be harvested for timber, individual trees are planted five feet apart. About the tenth or 

 fifteenth year, when the trees start to obstruct each other, every other one is cut in each 

 direction. The trees are then ten feet apart. About the twenty-fifth or thirtieth year, each 

 intermediate tree is again cut down, and the remaining trees are then twenty feet apart. 

 They can continue that way until the timber is harvested. 



It's a pity that foreign trees are hardly used for planting forests. Yet several 

 hundred different kinds have come to France and already are well adapted here. They 

 could be used successfully to replenish areas that have been abandoned as unproductive. 

 [Translator's note: in the 17th and 18th centuries, French explorers and botanists 

 pioneered the introduction of trees and plants from distant lands into Europe. Thouin 

 himself acclimatized many new varieties for growth in France.] 



Saplings are also planted on location for hedgerows, palisades, and groves. 



