Februaby 2 . 
THE COTTAGE GA EDEN E H. 
341 
above the soil. If there are any living roots, presorve, 
if possible, every one of them. Proceed, bulb by bulb, 
till all are potted ; then give a good watering, and place 
the pots upon a thick bed of coal-ashes, in a cool frame. 
Protect them during the winter from frost, giving air on 
all favourable occasions. Towards spring they will 
have made three or four leaves, and the pots will be 
found full of roots. A shift into a larger-sized pot will 
then be necessary, and will encourage the bulbs to in¬ 
crease in sizo very materially. I have even shifted them 
twice in the season with the best effect. By this close 
attention to re-potting, and a due supply of water, the 
bulbs will have increased to such a sizo that many of 
them will flower; and, in such species as are apt to 
sport, will reward the cultivator, very probably, with 
somo improved varieties. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued .) 
WOODS AND FORESTS. 
(Continued from ‘page 301.) 
Planting .—It has been said that “whoever fells a tree 
ought to plant a hundred,” and, like most other old 
sayings, this is not only a wise one, even applied to 
the owner of woods for his own interest, but also is but 
honest to his posterity and the succeeding generations. 
If it is the duty of a private individual to replant his 
woods whenever ho falls any quantity of timber, it 
surely is more especially the duty of the government of 
any country to replace any trees that it may be neces¬ 
sary, either for use as timber, or on account of age, to 
apply tl' 6 axe to the root. And this remark applies 
with still greater force to the government of this coun 
try, inasmuch as timber for ship-building is so neces¬ 
sary for our grand national means of defence. Our 
greatest statesmen have always paid considerable atten¬ 
tion to this point of political economy, and so greatly 
has its wisdom been pressed upon the attention of the 
legislature, that a commission has for many years been 
appointed to watch over and manage the forests belong¬ 
ing to the nation. Public attention has been lately 
drawn to this important duty of government by the 
press, and we may hope that the business of planting 
will now bo carried on with spirit and in the best pos¬ 
sible manner. Having mado these few prefatory re¬ 
marks, I shall now endeavour to describe the best mode 
of planting a track of land with timber trees. I have 
already alluded to the preparation of the ground by 
draining and digging, or otherwise making the ground 
ready for the trees. The first point to consider is, what 
kind of trees will grow best upon the space to be planted. 
If there is a fair depth of soil, then, by all means, plant 
it with that most valuable of all timber trees, the Oak, 
mixing them with some kind of Fir-trees, as nurses to 
shelter and draw them up for a few years. Very lately, 
I visited the seat of the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck 
Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, and had the pleasure of 
walking through the Oak plantations on that estate. 
This venerable nobleman is more than fourscore years 
old, and has, during his long life, been an energetic 
planter of this noble tree the Oak. I noted largo labels 
on each plantation, on which is painted very legibly the 
date of each plantation, so that the rato of growth may 
be observed at once. They arc planted (or sown I could 
not learn which) on ridges, or rather long beds. The 
younger ones stand thick on the beds, but aro regularly 
thinned as they require it;‘but such as have been 
growing since 1834, the oldest date I came across, aro 
now quite thin, with clean, straight poles, really beauti¬ 
ful specimens. In such a favourable soil and situation 
there is no need of nurses, neither havo any been 
planted, but in less favoured spots they will bo found 
advantageous. The Oak will grow in almost any soil 
not actually wot or very much exposed. 
In ground considerably elevated, or on hill sides, 
when the soil is thin, then lot the Larch he the tree I 
intended to make timber, mixing it with the Scotch Fir, j 
the Birch, or the Beech, as nurses. In low, wet grounds, ] 
which cannot be drained, the Willow, the Poplar, and 
the Alder, should be planted, mixed with a few ashes, 
and the Balm of Oilead, Spruce, or Silver Fir, these to 
be planted on raised mounds. Indeed, the wholo of 
these trees planted on such ground should be planted 
on ridges, the soil dug out to form the ridges being 
thrown upon them to elevate the ground above the 
water level, and increase the bed of soil for them to 
grow in. In positions near the sea-coast, such plants 
as will bear the breeze should be planted nearest to 
the water to shelter those further inland from the salt 
spray. The common Alder is one that bears the sea 
blast as well as any. If ever that beautiful tree, the 
Araucaria imbricata becomes common, it will be an 
excellent sea-side tree; for, as I remarked in my account 
of Badorgan, lately, there it is quite healthy and unin¬ 
jured, though planted within a few yards of the sea¬ 
shore. 
On the tops of our highest hills, the only way to get 
up a young plantation will he to plant it with the 
hardiest of trees, and that thickly, so that they may 
shelter each other. I noticed, lately, on some of the 
highest hills of Lancashire and Yorkshire, plantations 
of some extent, and there the hardy Scotch Fir, the 
Larch, and the Birch, have managed to stand the blasts, 
but the reason why they had not made much progress 
was, in my opinion, because the spaces planted aro too 
small and isolated; yet I observed some in the centre of 
each plot that had mado considerable more progress 
than the outside, showing, evidently, that larger planta¬ 
tions, even on such bleak positions, would, in time, 
shelter each other, and such barren spots would bo then 
covered with thriving timber trees. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued .) 
TEMPORARY HOTBEDS. 
The season having now arrived in which forcing of 
all kinds will be going on with great activity, the careful 
cultivator will often havo his inventive powers put to 
the test, in order to ensure to everything that degree of 
warmth and shelter which is so essential to its well 
being; for, in many cases, the number of frames and 
other conveniences are not sufficient for the requirements 
of the season, that somo “ make shifts” have to be called 
into action, while, at the same time, every inch of glass 
is supposed to bo hard at work as well. Now, though 
it would be idle to say that any substitute for a glass 
covering is as good as glass itself, yet many contrivances 
might bo adopted which would either hasten on, or 
shelter, productions of a kind not too tender. For 
instance, Potatoes that were planted on a hotbed in 
December, might, by-and-by, have the frame taken away 
from them; the second crop, especially, might be made 
to dispense with such a luxury, and some frame-work of 
somo kind or other erected which would admit of being 
covered up with somo frost-proof material; while, at the 
same time, other beds might be made, and the Potatoes 
planted, which it would be unnecessary to humour with 
a glass covering at all if that material be wanted 
elsewhere. 
Let us supposo that tree leaves, or dung, or both, 
exist in sufficient quantity to havo a frame or two built 
with. Then, with this fermenting material, when in 
duo order (according to directions so often given), let a 
sort of hotbed be made of any required length, but it 
