i February 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
i CULTURE OF TREES FOR LOCAL REQUIRE¬ 
MENTS.—THE LARCH. 
It requires no groat amount of poetic genius to pro¬ 
nounce healthy and well-regulated plantations of trees 
as one of the greatest ornaments of Nature, and the 
most careless observer of such things is seldom so far 
dead to all around him as not to feel pleasure, or its 
contrary, by the presence or absence of trees in tho 
landscape before him. True, there are districts in which 
these noble productions of nature exist in too great a 
prolusion to gratify the taste of the cultivated mind, 
which sees too much monotony to lie pleased, unless it 
be accompanied also by something that is grand or 
sublime; however, there are few districts in this country 
to which this fault applies. The industry of the hus- 
! bandman, through a long series of ages, has removed 
most of the traces of the primitive forests which encum- 
j bered this country at one time, and it is only here and 
; there that a tract of laud may be met with which thero 
is reason to believe had never felt the plough or spado, 
nor any substitute for these useful implements of culti¬ 
vation ; such tracts are, however, to be met with occa- 
| sionally, but they generally present a barren, uninviting 
j aspect, and by their produce tell, in unmistakable terms, 
that much toil and trouble would be required to bring 
j them into cultivation, and that when done, it would be 
very questionable whether such labour had been pru¬ 
dently expended. Other tracts certainly promise to do 
more, but then they are fenced in by certain trammels 
of the law in such a way as to debar all improvement. 
Of such class are some of tho Royal Forests, which, 
j however, may be moro prudently looked after hereafter; 
j hut as this has been already adverted to elsewhere, I 
, will advance no further, but beg to call attention to 
some matters more in detail as relates to tho profitable 
culture of certain kinds of timber-trees, and tho treat- 
I merit necessary to their well-being. 
I There are few things connected with rural affairs of 
which more has been said than the pruning and 
thinning of forest-trees, and books and treatises innu¬ 
merable have been sent abroad on the subject. Unfor¬ 
tunately, the most of these arc couched in too general 
terms to serve in all instances, thero being certain 
special cases wherein a treatment in direct varianco 
with that generally given is not only excusable, but 
highly advisable, and as certain districts, or rather 
certain wants, give rise to these special cases, the one 
I am going to narrate may servo as an example to tho 
rest, although they may, in each instance, differ much 
from it in the causes and effects which govern their 
respective conditions. 
In travelling a little way from home with a friend 
from a distant county, who was an enthusiastic admirer 
of all Nature’s productions, as well as a skilful and ex¬ 
perienced manager of trees and woodlands, we came 
upon many objects which excited his auger, as well as 
others did his admiration, the latter feeling being, 
perhaps, confined to tho effects which Nature produced, 
rather than through any well-directed skill in assisting 
her in such objects, and I have no doubt but (had he 
traversed this part of the county of Kent alone, without 
a chance of learning the wants and requirements of the 
district) he would have gone away, condemning us as 
the most barbarous managers of trees and woodlands 
that had any existence in a civilized country. Hedge¬ 
row trees, lopped from the ground almost up to their 
very tips ; others, beheaded, and that operation having 
been several times repeated had given their trunks a 
singularly hideous appearance when seen for the first 
time by a stranger, and more especially so if it was in 
the dusk; but what drew from him most condemnation, 
was a plantation of young Larch Firs, which, to him, 
appeared like a large nursery abandoned to its fate, and 
the trees struggling with each other for an existence. 
! Now this may, at first sight, appear to many an impru- j 
dent way of managing things; as l believe I am within | 
bounds when I say, that in a usual way, about twenty 
thousand Larch Trees are planted on an acre, and these i 
never get either thinning or pruning; this, of course, j 
at first sight, may puzzle thoso not versed in such 
matters, as they did my friend; but a very few words will 
explain all. Wood is a heavy, bulky commodity, and 
not easily moved great distances without incurring 
expenses beyond what its intrinsic value will repay; 
consequently, its greatest worth is on the spot where it 
is grown, provided a demand exists there. Now, in the 
case referred to, thero is a demand, and a good one, for 
Larch poles of a certain size, as well as polos of other- 
kinds of wood, but beyond that size or standard 
their value diminishes very much ; hence, tho propriety 
of cutting them at the precise period they are fit for 
market. I need hardly say, that Larch-trees, planted 
at distances not exceeding eighteen inches apart, 
speedily become drawn; and at the timo when my 
friend saw them, they resembled, as he justly observed, 
a “ forest of fishing rods; ” some of tho worst of the 
trees, probably, having had a bad start, had given up the 
struggle for existence, which the others competed for 
with all tho energy, and not little of the selfishness, of a 
life and death struggle. This state of things puzzled 
my friend, who saw enough to convince him that edge 
tools were used pretty freely in the fruit plantation 
adjoining and elsewhere; however, he did not require 
much convincing of tho profitable naturo of the plan, 
which is this:— 
Tho large extent of ground under cultivation as Hop¬ 
gardens, in Kent, and their consequent want of poles 
from ten to eighteen feet long, without any of the switch 
top, has, of course, led to a great demand for such 
articles, as some threo thousand, or more, arc wanted 
per acre, and these often wanting renewing, an active 
trade for such articles is kept up; and independently of 
the largo quantity which a coppice of hard-wooded trees 
produces at each cutting, and of which I will speak 
hereafter, thero has been a growing demand for I,arch 
poles for many years, and many plantations of the kind 
above spoken of has been made of late, and many of 
these are made not by wealthy landlords with a view to 
ornamenting their estates, but by enterprising farmersand 
others, who look forward with some degree of certainty 
of being remunerated for their outlay, and in many 
instances the speculation has been a lucrative one ; for 
on land of no great reputation, the produce of such a 
plantation often sells from fifty to seventy pounds per 
acre standing on the ground, the purchasers cutting 
and clearing it all away, and the seller, after grubbing 
the stumps up, which may cost (with the digging of the 
same) about £5 per acre, generally reaps good crops of 
corn afterwards from the change it has undergone, and 
hy that routine of cropping, now so much practised, 
another piece undergoes the operation of planting, &c. 
I must not, however, forget to mention, that such aresult 
is usually effected in about twelve years after planting, 
and sometimes it is less, if the ground be good, &c. 
As there is no attention whatever required after the 
first planting, save, perhaps, keeping the worst of the 
weeds down tho ensuing season, the investment seems 
a favourable one, and on really good laud I have known 
a ten-years growth produce eighty pounds per acre. 
Now, according to the pounds-shillings-and-pence-way 
of enforcing an argument, I question much if any other 
mode of growing trees of a forest kind present such a 
quick and profitable return; and I am not sure but a 
carefully-managed plantation of hard wood, cut periodi¬ 
cally, be not equally a paying concern. Certain it is 
that timber is not so remunerative, for the old saying is, I 
“ that a coppice will buy the horse before the timber will j 
