162 
F A G U S. 
horfe-hoeing plough, which will difpatch a great deal of 
this work in a ffiort time; but it fhould be performed 
with great care, fo as not to injure the young plants ; 
therefore the middle of the fpaces only fhould be cleaned 
with this inftrument, and a hand-hoe muff be ufed to clean 
between the plants in the rows, and alfo on each fide, 
where it will be unfafe for the plough to be drawn : and 
in hand-hoeing there muft be great care taken not to cut 
the tender rind of the plants. If the following fpringthe 
fpaces are carefully flirred with the plough, it will not 
only make the ground clean, but alfo loofen it, fo as that 
the fun and moifture may more eafily penetrate the fame, 
which will greatly promote the growth of the plants ; and 
the oftener thefe ploughings are repeated, the cleaner will 
be the ground, and the greater will be tire progrefs of the 
plants, which cannot be kept too clean while they are 
young. When thefe have remained three or four years, 
(if the nuts fucceed well) you will have many of thefe 
trees to remove, which fhould be done at the feafons be¬ 
fore directed, leaving the trees about three feet diftance in 
the rows ; at which diftance they may remain for three 
or four years more, when you fhould remove every other 
tree to make room for the remaining, which will reduce the 
whole plantation to fix feet fquare, which will be diftance 
enough for them to remain in until they are large enough 
for poles, when you may cut down every other of thefe 
trees, making choice of the leafl promifing, within a foot 
of the ground, in order to make flools for poles, which 
in eight or ten years time will be ftrong enough to lop for 
hoops, hop-poles, &c. for which purpofes they are pre¬ 
ferable to mod other trees; fo that every tenth year here 
will be afreffi crop, which will pay the rent of the ground, 
and all other incumbent charges, and, at the fame time, 
a full crop of growing timber left upon the ground. But 
as the large trees increafe in bulk, their diftance of twelve 
feet fquare will be too fmall ; therefore when they have 
grown to a fize for fmall boards, you fhould fell every 
other tree, which will reduce them to twenty-four feet 
fquare, which is a proper diftance for them fo remain for 
good ; this will give air to the underwood, which, by this 
time, would be too much overhung by the clofenefs of the 
large trees ; by which means that will be greatly encou¬ 
raged, and the fmall timber felled will pay fufficient in- 
tereft for the money at firft laid out in planting, &c. with 
the principal alfo : fo that all the remaining trees are clear 
profit, for the underwood ftill continuing, will pay the 
rent of the ground, and all other expences. 
In making a plantation of cheftnut trees for the fruit, the 
ground fhould have three or four ploughings the preceding 
furnmer and winter ; and, if one good digging is added a 
little before planting, it will be a great improvement. 
Piant your trees in rows fix feet diftant every way, dig the 
ground annually, and when the branches begin to meet, 
sake up every fecond row, and every fecond plant, which 
will leave all the trees at twelve feet diftance, and the 
wood of the trees taken up will be very ufeful for many 
purpofes. Having dug or half-trenched the land, if it is 
of a good quality, it may for fome years be cultivated 
with potatoes, cabbages, turnips, &c. When the 
branches begin again to meet, they muft be reduced as 
before, and left twenty-four feet afunder ; at which dif¬ 
tance they may remain. The wood of this laft felling will 
law into fmall boards, and being about twenty years old, 
muft be rooted out, for the cheftnut fhoots vigoroufly from 
ftooU. The remaining trees, having produced fruit for 
leveral years, will now bear vaft quantities, and make 
great returns of profit. 
The. cheftnut will thrive on almoft all foils, and in all 
Mtuations, if there be no Handing water ; but beft in a 
rich loamy land ; it will fucceed, however, very well on 
gravel, clay, or land. All mixed foils fuit it, as well as 
expofed places, and the declivities of hills. In foreign 
countries, where the cheftnut is cultivated for the fruit, 
they graft cyons from trees bearing the larged and fairelt 
fruit, upon docks railed from the nut, Thefe grafted 
j 
trees are by the French called marrtmiers, and are unfit 
for timber. 
The nuts of the chinquapine, or dwarf Virginian cheft- 
nut, fhould be put up in land, in America, as foon as they 
are ripe, and fent out immediately, otherwife they lole 
their vegetating quality. When the nuts arrive, they 
fhould be put into the ground as foon as poffible ; and if 
the winter fhould prove fevere, cover the ground with 
leaves, tan, or peafe-hawm, to prevent the froft from pe¬ 
netrating to the nuts. 
The beech-tree is propagated by fowing the mad, the 
feafon for which is any time from October to February 5 
only obferving to fecure the feeds from vermin when early 
fowed : if this be carefully done, the fooner they are Cown 
the better, after they are full ripe. Since beech-maft, 
however, keeps very well, and it is greatly reliffied by 
field-mice and other vermin, many planters prefer fpring. 
fowing ; in which cafe the feeds fhould be fpread on a mat 
in an airy place for a few days to dry, and then put up in 
bags. A fmall fpot of ground will be fufficient for raid¬ 
ing a great number of thefe trees from feed. They muft 
be kept clean from weeds ; and if they come up very 
thick, draw the ftrongeft the autumn following: and 
thus if a feed-bed be hufbanded carefully, it will afford a 
three years’ draught of young plants, jyhich fhould be 
planted in a nurfery ; and, if deiigned for timber trees, at 
three feet diftance row from row, and eighteen inches afun¬ 
der in the rows. But if they are defigned for hedges, 
two feet row from row, arid one foot in the rows will be 
fufficient. In this nurfery they may remain two or three 
years ; obferving to clear them from weeds, and to dig 
up the ground between the rows, at leaf! once a-year ; but 
be careful not to cut or bruife the roots, and never to dig 
the ground in furnmer, whenit is hot and dry. The beech 
will profper on ftony barreij foils ; but then the nurfery 
for the young plants ought to be upon the fame foil : for 
if they be railed in a good foil and a warm expofure, and 
afterwards are tranfplanted into a bleak barren fituation, 
they feldom thrive. For hedges, the beech may he kept 
in a regular figure, if fheared twice a-year, at lead when 
it fhoots ftrong : in which cafe, if the hedges are neg¬ 
lected but a feafon or two, it will be difficult to reduce 
them again. The varieties with ftriped leaves may be 
continued by budding or grafting upon the common 
beech : obferving not to plant them in too good a foil, 
which will frequently caufe the leaves to become plain. 
The following directions are fubjoined from Mr. 
Bontcher. Being provided with maft from the ftraighteft 
and freffieft trees in September, as foon as the hulks are 
quite dry, mix them with fand, and lay them under an old 
frame or other covering, to proteCt them from froft and 
wet. The beginning of March fow them in beds four 
feet wide, in (hallow drills eighteen inches afunder; co¬ 
vering them one inch deep : if the feafon be dry, give 
them frequent but moderate waterings, from their appear¬ 
ance above ground till the middle of Auguft. In March, 
next feafon, with a fpade made very ffiarp, undermine the 
roots, and cut them over between four and five inches un¬ 
der ground. The following autumn or fpring, either 
raife the whole,orgive them another cutting underground, 
when gently raifing fitch as are too thick, leave the re¬ 
mainder at proper diftances, to (land another feafon. 
Plant fuch as you have raifed, after fmoorhing the brtiifed 
and broken roots, and cutting away fome of the fmall 
hairy fibres, in lines two feet afunder, and nine or ten 
inches in the line : here they may remain two, or, if the 
land be poor, three years. Next autumn or fpring, treat 
the reft in like manner. Trim off only crofs ill-placed 
branches, and thole fparingly. From this nurfery they 
muft be removed to another, and planted in rows three 
feet and a half afunder, and eighteen inches in the rows : 
here they may remain three years ; in poor land four ; ob¬ 
ferving always to prune moderately at removal, and to 
leave abundance of fmall branches. Now thefe plants 
will be fit for common and extenlive plantations : but fuch 
as 
