October 3. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
9 
neglect, the supply of good timber is becoming less 
every year. Land is now so valuable for farming 
purposes, that I fear very few acres are, or will be, 
planted with Oak to supply the next generation with 
this valuable timber, therefore, it behoves every pro¬ 
prietor to take the greater care of the existing planta¬ 
tions. Now, if a young nobleman, or gentleman, comes 
into possession of his paternal acres, and finds the 
woods in a neglected and deteriorating condition, he 
naturally inquires, what he should have done to them, 
in order to put them into such a condition as would 
repair the neglect they have suffered, and render them 
profitable both to himself and the succeeding generation. 
The expence of such improvements will, of course, 
depend upon the state the woods are in; generally, 
there will be always such a quantity of indifferent 
timber and underwood to be cleared olf as will amply 
repay the cost, so that the expense will be covered by 
making the very improvement itself. If the woods are 
extensive, and the labourers scarce in the locality, a 
determined part of the plantation only may be sub¬ 
jected to improving operation the first year, and the 
same extent operated upon the succeeding season, and 
so on, year by year, till the whole is completed; by 
that time the first breadth will require further attention, 
in order to keep it in progressing order. This work 
requires a superintendent of great experience and sound 
judgment, and when such a man is engaged, full con¬ 
fidence must be placed in him and his operations. To 
bring such a neglected wood into good trim requires 
the greatest circumspection. It will not do to merely 
chop down and cut and slash the wood, leaving only 
the best trees standing, here and there, exposed to the 
cutting winds which they have never felt before, on 
account of being sheltered by their less handsome 
brethren. In fact, I have often seen a great amount of 
mischief done by such summary proceedings. Well, 
then, how are we to proceed? In the succeeding 
remarks, I will endeavour to satisfy this reasonable 
inquiry. First, take a survey of the wood, and mark a 
sufficient number of the best trees to stand, for making, 
hereafter, the standing timber; then go over it again, 
and mark others to stand as shelter for those first 
marked. Supposing the plantation is a very old one, 
then such as are evidently at their full growth, should, 
at the proper season, have their bark stripped off for the 
tanner, and the following autumn let them be felled down 
and sold, leaving only sucti trees as have vigorousgrowth, 
and promising appearance, to warrant the expectation 
that they will, when the superfluous trees, whether young 
or old, are cut down, advance in size and strength 
Excepting the sheltering trees, alluded to above, every 
one else should be removed, and also all the underwood. 
Then, if the soil is wet, let it be properly drained. 
These drains should be open ones, because covered 
drains soon get choked up with the roots of the trees. 
The soil thrown out of the drains may be spread on the 
surface, and will materially assist the trees that are left 
to make fresh vigorous growth. Should there be large 
breadths of stunted trees, some of them should be 
left to produce what is called knee-timber, which, to a 
certain extent, is as valuable as straight, clear timber, 
for certain purposes in naval architecture. 
This thinning, felling, and draining, being completed, 
then the fences should be put into good repair, and the 
wood left for three or four years to go on and prosper. 
After that time the nurse trees may be partially removed; 
perhaps just half of them would be a judicious proportion. 
The trees intended to stand will have become partially 
inured to the breezes that rush through the thinned 
trees, and will be prepared for the final removal of the 
remainder. This gradual thinning is too often neglected 
or despised by ignorant woodmen, who cannot conceive 
that the hardy Oak can possibly be injured by being ex¬ 
posed, at once, to the cutting winds that blow upon them 
when suddenly exposed by severe and wanton removal 
of their sheltering neighbours. This is all for the want 
of thinking; for even their own feelings might inform 
them that it is ten times colder in a newly-thinned forest 
than in a thick, neglected one. I cannot press this point 
too strongly upon every forester. I have frequently ob¬ 
served the ill effects of such wholesale injudicious thin¬ 
ning. I have seen woods with trees of some forty years 
standing severely thinned, and the trees that were left, 
thirty or forty feet high, having the appearance of 
slender poles, with a few branches near the top, so 
starved by the sudden change as to remain for seven 
years before they acquired any strength, looking meagre, 
starved wretches all the time, even if they survived the 
sudden change. By all means, then, thin a neglected 
wood gradually. In the sixth year, the remainder of 
the trees left as shelterers may be all safely removed. 
Pruning the trees must, also, be carefully performed. 
Should any of them have one or two very strong, living 
branches, they should be shortened-in to within two or 
three feet of the main stem. Great care must be taken 
that the branches are not split in cutting them off. The 
saw should be used first on the under side, and the 
branch supported till the saw meets the under cut. 
These stumps will soon push forth young shoots, and 
thus draw up - nourishing sap to strengthen the main 
stem. If such strong branches are cut off at once, the 
large wound the saw makes takes years to heal, and 
then there is enclosed under the new bark a large knot 
of dead wood, which always makes the timber less 
valuable and liable to decay. 
The small branches on young, vigorous trees, on the 
contrary, should be cut off close, because the wound is 
small and quickly healed, and covered with bark in 
such a little time, that when the tree is felled no mark 
is disceruable where the small branch has been cut off. 
All dead branches, on the contrary, should be cut off 
close to the stem, and the spot plastered over with a 
cement, formed of sand, lime, and cow-dung, to prevent 
wet from lodging, and penetrating into the heart of the 
tree. Dead branches are unsightly, aud even if they drop> 
off in time close to the stem, and the bark encloses and 
covers them, the timber will be injured by having a hole 
through it as far as the dead-enclosed branch reaches. 
When these improvements are once effected the after¬ 
management is easy. If it is thought desirable to have 
a crop of underwood, the stumps left in the ground will 
soon spring up, and in seven or eight years be fit to cut 
again for such purposes as uuderwood is used for, namely 
—stakes, hoops, and fire-wood. In cutting this under¬ 
wood, should there be any straight, clean shoots of Oak 
on the stools, one or two may be left to grow into trees. 
When the main crop is fit for the market, such young 
trees should be chosen to stand as are close to the 
ground, in order that they may have roots of their own 
to support them hereafter. I am, however, no advocate 
for underwood at all, aud, therefore, should recommend 
the stubbing it all up, and levelling the ground, making 
it fit for the reception of grass seeds. The wood will 
then assume the character of a beautiful grove. This 
should especially be done when the wood is near to the 
mansion; and the pleasure of the proprietor would be' 
greatly enhanced, if, whilst the improvements are going 
on, drives were formed throughout the whole extent. 
The progress of the trees might then be more easily 
seen aud enjoyed. These drives should be made firm 
by severely beating the soil aud frequently rolling with a 
heavy horse-roller. This firm road will be found useful 
when the timber is felled, or underwood cut, to drag it 
out of the wood on. Frequently, great mischief is done 
to the young trees when there is no regularly-formed 
path to travel on. T. Appleby. 
{To be continued.) 
