502 
Thinnings of Plantations. 
tliat planting to the extent I contemplate would over-stock the mar¬ 
ket, and render timber of so little value that it would not return the 
sum expended on its cultivation; but although such an idea may be 
considered by some a sufficient palliative for omitting to perform what 
most people will still continue to think their imperative duty, it cer¬ 
tainly is an argument against plantiiig, undeserving a serious refutation. 
On this head I shall only observe that on an average, for some years 
since the conclusion of the war, imported timber has cost England the 
en'ormous sum of three and a quarter millions sterling annually; and 
surely whilst such a necessity exists, such a dependance on foreign 
powers for an article essential to the prosperity, nay, to the very 
existence of England as a nation,—the motive for plantings where 
the means exist, can never be wanting. 
Some of the products for wooded land, however, such for instance, 
as thinnings,^ prunings^ and underwood, from a want of knowing 
how to dispose of them profitably, are in many situations, not only 
of no value, but a nuisance ;* and although every person who has 
considered the matter, will agree with Sir Walter Scott, that ‘^to treat 
a plantation in one way or other with reference to the profit to be 
derived from the thinning, would be as if a carpenter should cut out 
his wood, not with relation to the ultimate use which he was to make 
of it, but to the chips which the operation would produce.” f Yet it 
is to be feared that few will be found willing to take this very correct 
view of the subject; and my object in what follows, is, to point out 
some of the modes by which at every stage of growth, the refuse of 
plantations may be converted to a profitable use. 
The Fir tribe, until they have attained dimensions which fit them 
for post and rail fences, are scarcely applicable to any other purpose 
than that of fuel, to which after they have been cut for some time, 
they are exceedingly well adapted; or an inconsiderable demand may 
sometimes be had, for them for forming rustic fences. The fine twigs 
or spray, which form the extremities of Larch branches, have been 
substituted with good effect for straw in thatching; it is, however, 
necessary to observe, that roofs which are intended to be covered with 
Larch thatch should have a high pitch, otherwise the numerous pro¬ 
tuberances on the twigs prevent the rain trickling off immediately, 
and consequently render them more liable to rot. For dwellings, the 
* The putrefactive fermentation of spray and brushwood left in close plantations, produces 
gaseous matter, alike hurtful to animal and vegetable life. In many places, over a thousand 
acres of the plantations at Blair Adam, the pruning ot spray and brushwood, and the lopping of 
the trees thinned out, for which there is no sale, bad been allowed to accumulate for many 
years. The injurious effect was so remarkable that the proprietor determined to have the stuff 
removed, this was done; and women and boys now keep the wood clear, the expense of which 
has been overpaid by the increased health and beauty ot the trees.”— Libkaky ok Useful 
Knowledge ; Farmers' Series, No. 19, pa^e 21. 
+ Essay on the Improvement of Waste Land, pubh.^hed in the 72nd number of the Quarterly 
Review. 
