June 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
j deep sandy loam, made to produce heavy crops by a 
regular system of trenching. Its earliness may be de¬ 
monstrated by the fact, that on the 5th of May, garden 
Beans were in full blossom, and Peas in pod. 
Before reluctantly leaving this place, there is one 
j lesson which all, and especially those conversant with 
gardening literature, may learn, and which l am sure 
Mr. Bailey will forgive me for alluding to, namely, that 
each place has rules of action peculiarly its own; in 
other words, that modes of operation well suited for ono 
locality would be most unsuitable for another. Let me 
give in illustration two well-known facts. Mr. Bailey 
is no friend to mowing-machines for lawns, whether of 
hand or horse power. Many who can stand their clat¬ 
tering noise during the day find them useful and econo¬ 
mical. They could be of no use on the fine undulating 
grouuds of Nuneham. Again, Mr. Bailey has not pro 
moted the use of a machine for throwing scalding salt 
water over weeds on walks. Many, where there are 
large breadths of gravel, such as at Trentham, Woburn, 
j Luton Hoo, &c., have found such a mode advantageous, 
j after calculating the prices of salt, the fuel, the labour, 
and the annoyance of the encrustation of salt for a time, 
and the cloud of smoko pouring from the funnel. 
The walks at Nuuehatn are distinguished more for 
commodious narrowness than amplitude in width; and, 
leaving out of view the up-and-down-hill character of 
j the pleasure-grounds, which of itself would be an in¬ 
superable drawback to such a machine, the care requi¬ 
site in securing such beautiful edgings of grass or box 
from injury would more than neutralize any other 
advantages. 
Having in this hurried visit derived pleasure and profit, 
I could not keep them to myself. The recollections of 
it will ever be a sunny spot on which memory will 
delight to linger. R. Fish. 
WOODS AND FORESTS. 
THE OAK. 
(Continued from paye 120.) 
Planting. — In my last paper on this subject I 
described the nurseryman's method of sowing the 
acorns. The after-management generally adopted is 
transplanting them two or three times previously to 
disposing of them to the planter to place them in the 
forest. I mentioned that the Oak forms a tap-root, or 
a root that descends deep downwards into the soil. 
Now, every time the Oak is removed this tap-root is 
necessarily shortened, and lateral or side-roots produced. 
In the case of fruit-trees, our friend, Mr. Erriugton, 
would say, that circumstance is not ouly'desirable, but 
absolutely necessary, because surface-roots are more 
productive of fruit, ripe wood, &c.; but in Oak culture 
the case is widely different. The grand object is to 
induce rapid growth, and, therefore, the less the roots 
are mutilated the better. It follows, therefore, -that 
frequent transplantings are injurious. The first year 
after the acorns have been sown the plants should be 
transplanted into nursery rows, with the tap-root as 
! entire as possible. The rows should be at least fifteen 
j inches apart, and plants nine inches apart from each 
j other in the rows. They should be planted with the 
I spade. A trench should be opened across the piece of 
ground, a line stretched, and the edge chopped straight, 
aud even deep enough to allow the roots to be covered 
up to the collar where the top commences, and be put 
in without bending the lowest point of the root. Care 
must be taken not to expose the roots to the air any 
longer than is absolutely necessary; hence, too many 
should not be taken up at once. Proceed by digging 
a sufficient width for the next row, and so on, till the 
whole are finished. This work should be begun as soon 
as the leaves turn yellow, and ought to bo finished 
before the new year sets in. After that they will require 1 
keeping clear of weeds, and digging between the rows 
in tho autumn. If the nursery ground has been well 
trenched, and is in good heart, the young trees will grow | 
rapidly, especially the second year, and will then be fit 
to plant in their final home; that is, if a new plan- j 
tation is intended to be made. If they are wanted to 
fill up old woods, they had better remain in tho nursery 
rows a third season, in order to be sufficiently tall to 
be above the wood weeds which always abound in old 
plantations. 
Final Planting. —Having thus prepared the young 
trees, this all-important operation must be prepared for. 
I have, in former papers, insisted upon the necessity and 
economy of properly proparing the ground for their 
reception, by draining it well, and trenching it effectually. 
This may, at first, appear a tedious, expensive operation, 
but in tho end it will be found the most economical. 
Better prepare one acre well, and plant it properly, than 
ten otherwise. Proprietors of large estates, intending to 
plant this valuable timber-tree, should spare no labour 
and expense in doing it well. We all know corn aud 
vegetables will not produce a good crop if the land is 
not rich and in good order, aud the argument is equally 
good applied to the culture of timber. Nearly forty 
years ago, my father was employed, by a gentleman in 
Yorkshire, to plant a large plot of ground with timber- 
trees. The ground was drained and trenched the 
summer previously, and the trees planted in the autumn. 
1 was an assistant in the business, and saw how well it 
was done. Last summer, for the first time, I visited 
the estate, and found Oak-trees in the wood as thick as , 
my body, and fifty feet high. Tho gentleman assured 
me the thinning done had not only repaid the outlay, 
but had realised a fair rent ori the land, and the standing 
trees were all clear profit, though he intended to leave 
them to grow for the benefit of bis successors. I 
mention this, to show that the earth is grateful (cer¬ 
tainly grateful, no doubt about that), just in proportion 
to the pains bestowed upon it. 
To return to the planting. The ground having been 
prepared properly, as soon as the leaves are yellow (they 
do not fall oil' the Oak till late) take up the trees, as 
many as can be planted in one day, and plant them, as 
quickly as possible, at a yard apart every way. An acre 
will take, at that distance, nearly 5,000 trees. If the 
Oak is intended to be the principal crop, I would plant 
them every fourth tree, filling between with what 
nurserymen and foresters call nurse plants. These are 
intended to shelter and draw up straight the Oak, which, 
otherwise, has a tendency to produce side-branches, and 
grow crooked. Nurse trees may be such kinds as Firs, 
of sorts, Hazels, Birch, aud a few Beech-trees. Elms 
aud Ashes are objectionable, because ot their spreading, 
impoverishing roots. So are Horse Chesnuts, Poplars, 
and Sycamores, because of their large leaves. In rather ^ 
elevated positions, the Larch may be largely used as a 1 
nurse tree for the Oak. 
In the operation of planting, great care should be 
taken that the holes are made large and deep enough, | 
so that the roots may be properly covered, and loose, 1 
fine soil, should be thrown in to fill up the holes. If 
my directions as to the size ot the plants are attended 
to the plants will require no staking, but during the 
winter and spring the strong wind may have blown 
some sideways. In the spring, when the surface is 
tolerably dry, these side-blown trees should be set j 
upright, and the soil firmly trodden down close to each. 
The management of sowing the acorns in the wood, 
instead of planting trees raised in the nursery, I must 
attend to in my next. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
