breadths, depending on a variety of circumstances, but chiefly on the facility which these seeds afford for being carried to a distance by the wind, the rain, and by birds or other animals. At last that species which had enjoyed a maximum of natural advantages is found to prevail as far as this maximum extended, stretching along in masses and irregular portions of surface, till circumstances changing in favor of some other species, that takes the precedence in its turn. In this way it will be generally found, that the number of species, and the extent and style of the masses in which they prevail, bears a strict analogy to the changes of soil and surface; and this holds good, not only with respect to trees and shrubs, but to plants, grasses, and even the mossy tribe.

SECT. V. Of the Culture of Plantations.

3678. Most men consider a tree when once planted, as done with; though, as every one knows, the progress and products of trees, like those of other plants, may be greatly increased or modified by cultivating the soil, pruning, and thinning.

SUBSECT. 1. Of the Culture of the Soil among Trees.

3679. With respect to the culture of the soil, it is evident, that young plantations should be kept clear of such weeds as have a tendency to smother the plants; and though this is not likely to take place on heaths and barren sites, yet even these should be looked over once or twice during summer, and at least those weeds removed which are conspicuously injurious. In grounds which have been prepared previously to planting, weeding, hoeing by hand, or by the horse hoe, and digging or ploughing, become necessary according to circumstances. The hoeings are performed in summer to destroy weeds, and render the soil pervious to the weather; the ploughing and diggings in winter are for the same purpose, and sometimes to prepare the soil for spring crops. These, both Pontey and Sang allow, may be occasionally introduced among newly-planted trees; though it must not be forgotten that relatively to the trees, the plants composing such crops are weeds, and some of them, as the potatoe, weeds of the most exhausting kind. Sang uses a hoe of larger size than usual (fig. 455 d.)

3680. In preparing lands for sowing woods, Sang ploughs in manure, sows in rows six feet apart, by which he is enabled to crop the ground between, with low growing early potatoes, turnips, and lettuce; but not with young trees as a sort of nursery, as they prove more scourging crops than esculent vegetables; nor with grain, as not admitting of culture, and being too exhausting for the soil. Marshal, and some other authors, however, approve of sowing the tree seeds with a crop of grain, and hoeing up the stubble and weeds when the crop is removed.

3681. Pontey observes, "that wherever preparing the soil for planting is thought necessary, that of cultivating it for some years afterwards, will generally be thought the same; slight crops of potatoes with short tops, or turnips, may be admitted into such plantations with advantage for two or three years, as they create a necessity for annually digging or stirring the surface, and tend very materially to accelerate the growth of the plants. It may be objected, that such crops must impoverish the soil, and no doubt but such is the fact, so far as common vegetables are concerned; but as to the production of wood, its support depends, in a great measure, on a different species of nutriment; and hence, I could never observe, that such cropping damaged it materially." (Profit. Plant. p. 153.)

3682. Osier plantations, for baskets, willows, and hoops, require digging and cleaning during the whole course of their existence; and so do hedge-rows to a certain extent, and some ornamental plantations.

SUBSECT. 2. Of the Filling up of Blanks or Failures in Plantations.

3683. Filling up blanks is one of the first operations that occurs on the culture of plantations next to the general culture of the soil, and the care of the external fences. According to Sang, "a forest plantation, either in the mass form or ordinary mixa ture, should remain several years after planting, before filling up the vacancies, by the death of the hard wood-plants, takes place. Hard-wood plants, in the first year, and even sometimes in the second year after planting, die down quite to the surface of the ground, and are apparently dead, while their roots, and the wood immediately above them, are quite fresh, and capable of producing very vigorous shoots, which they frequently do produce, if allowed to stand in their places. If a tree, such as that above alluded to, be taken out the first or second year after planting, and the place filled up with a fresh plant of the same kind, what happened to the former may probably happen to the latter; and so the period of raising a plant on the spot may be protracted to a great length of time; or it is possible this object may never be gained.

3684. The filling up of the hard-wood kinds in a plantation which has been planted after trenching, or summer fallow, and which has been kept clean by the hoe, may be done

with safety at an earlier period than under the foregoing circumstances; because the trees, in the present case, have greater encouragement to grow vigorously after planting, and may be more easily ascertained to be entirely dead, than where the natural herbage is allowed to grow among them.

3685. But the filling up of larches and pines may take place the first spring after the plantation has been made; because such of these trees as have died are more easily distinguished. In many cases where a larch or pine loses its top, either by dying down, or the biting of hares or rabbits, the most vigorous lateral branch is elected by nature to supply the deficiency, which by degrees assumes the character of an original top. Pines, and larches, therefore, which have fresh lateral branches, are not to be displaced, although they have lost their tops. Indeed no tree in the forest, or other plantation, ought to be removed until there be no hope for its recovery.

3686. If the filling up of plantations be left undone till the trees have risen to fifteen or twenty feet in height, their roots are spread far abroad, and their tops occupy a considerable space. The introduction of two or three plants, from a foot to three feet in height, at a particular deficient place, can never, in the above circumstances, be attended with any advantage. Such plants may, indeed, become bushes, and may answer well enough in the character of underwood, but they will for ever remain unfit for any other purpose. It is highly improper then, to commence filling up of hard-wood plantations, before the third year after planting; or to protract it beyond the fifth or the sixth. March is the proper season for this operation. (Plant. Kal. 295.)

SUBSECT. 3. Of Pruning and Heading Down Trees in Plantations.

3687. Pruning is the most important operation of tree culture, since on it, in almost every case, depends the ultimate value, and in most cases, the actual bulk of timber produced. In the purposes of pruning, as for most other practicable purposes, the division of trees into resinous or frondose-branched trees, and into non-resinous or branchyheaded sorts is of use. The main object in pruning frondose-branched trees, is to produce a trunk with clean bark and sound timber; that in pruning branchy-stemmed trees, is principally to direct the ligneous matter of the tree into the main stem or trunk, and also to produce a clean stem and sound timber, as in the other case. The branches of frondose trees, unless in extraordinary cases, never acquire a timber size, but rot off from the bottom upwards, as the tree advances in height and age; and, therefore, whether pruned or not, the quantity of timber in the form of trunk is the same. The branches of the other division of trees, however, when left to spread out on every side, often acquire a timber-like size; and as the ligneous matter they contain is in general far from being so valuable as when produced in the form of a straight stem, the loss by not pruning off their side branches or preventing them from acquiring a timber-like size is evident. On the other hand, when they are broken off by accident, or rot off by being crowded together, the timber of the trunk, though in these cases increased in quantity, is rendered knotty and rotten in quality.

457

3688. With respect to the manner of pruning, Sang observes, "where straight timber is the object, both classes in their infancy should be feathered from the bottom upwards, keeping the tops light and spiral, something resembling a young larch (fig. 457 a). The proportion of their tops should be gradually diminished, year by year, till about their twentieth year, when they should occupy about a third part of the height of the plant; that is, if the tree be thirty feet high, the top should be ten feet (b). In all cases in pruning off the branches, the utmost care must be taken not to leave any stumps sticking out, but cut them into the quick. It is only by this means that clean timber can be procured for the joiner; or slightly stemmed trees to please the eye. It is a very general practice to leave snags or stumps (c); before the bole can be enlarged sufficiently to cover these, many years must elapse; the stumps in the meantime become rotten; and the consequence is, timber which when sawn up (d), is only fit for fuel."

3689. Pontey justly observes, "that the sap of a tree may be considered as the raw material furnished by nature; and man, the ma

nufacturer who moulds it into the form most useful for his purpose. A moderate quantity

Pp s

of leaves and small wood is necessary to every tree; but all above that quantity are of no use to the plant, and of little value to its owner.' (Forest Pruner, 152 and 153.)

3690. The great importance of the leaves of trees must never be lost sight of: in attending to these instructions their use is not, as Pontey asserts, to attract the sap, but to elaborate it when propelled to them, and thus form the extract or food taken in by the plant, into a fluid analogous to blood, and which is returned so formed by the leaves into the inner bark and soft wood. It must be a very nice point, therefore, to determine the quantity of branches or leaves that should be left on each tree; and if no more are left than what are necessary, then in the case of accidents to them from insects, the progress of the tree will be doubly retarded. Experience alone can determine these things. Both Pontey and Sang agree that "strength is gained as effectually by a few branches to a head as by many."

3691. The general seasons of pruning are winter and spring, and for the gean midsummer, as it is found to gum very much at any other season. Pontey says, "as to the proper seasons of pruning there is only one difficulty; and that is, discovering the wrong one, or the particular time that trees will bleed. Only two trees have been found which bleed uniformly at certain seasons, namely, the sycamore, and firs, which bleed as soon as the sap begins to move.'

""

3692. In spring pruning desist when bleeding takes place. As a general rule, Pontey thinks" summer preferable to winter pruning; because, in proportion as wounds are made early they heal so much more in the same season. (Forest Pruner, 236.) Sang suspends pruning from the end of February to the middle of July, but carries it on during every other month of the year; pruning the gean, or any other tree very apt to gum, only in July and August. (Plant. Kal. 268.)

3693. With respect to the implements to be used, Sang observes, " in every case where the knife is capable of lopping off the branch in question, namely, in the pruning of infant plants, it is the only instrument necessary. All other branches should be taken off by the saw. A hatchet, or a chisel, should never be used. Every wound on the stem, or bole, should be quite into the quick, that is, to the level and depth of the bark; nor should the least protuberance be left. The branch to be lopped off by the saw should, in all cases, be notched or slightly cut on the under side, in order to prevent the bark from being torn in the fall; and when the branch has been removed, the edges of the wound, if anywise ragged, should be pared smooth with the knife. If the tree be vigorous, nature will soon cover the wound with the bark, without the addition of any plaster to exclude the air. In the shortening of a strong branch, the position of which is pretty upright, it should be observed to draw the saw obliquely across it, in such a manner as that the face of the wound shall be incapable of retaining moisture; and afterwards to smooth the edges of the bark with a knife." (Plant. Kal. 181.)

3694. In every case where the branches are too large for the knife, Pontey prefers the saw as the best and most expeditious instrument; and one, the use of which is more easily acquired by a laborer than that of either the bill or axe. In "large work" he uses the common carpenter's saw; for smaller branches, one with somewhat finer teeth, with the plate of steel, about twenty inches long. Having stated what is general in pruning, the next thing is to submit some particular applications of the art to resinous and non-resinous timber-trees, copse-wood, osier-holts, hedges and hedge-rows, and trees in parks.

once.

3695. Resinous trees, Pontey and Sang agree, should not be pruned at so early an age as the non-resinous kinds. Sang commences about the sixth or eighth year, according to their strength or vigor, and removes no more than one or two tiers of branches at Pontey, when the plants are about eight feet high, gives the first pruning by "displacing two, or at most three tiers of the lower branches; after which, intervals of three years might elapse between the prunings, never displacing more than two tiers at once, except more shall prove dead." (Forest Pruner, 204.) Sang judiciously ob serves, "excessive pruning, either of pines, larches, or deciduous trees of any sort, is highly injurious, not only to the health of the plant, but to the perfection of the wood. If a sufficient number of branches are not left on the young plant to produce abundance of leaves, perfectly to concoct its juice, the timber will be loose in its texture, and liable to premature decay." (Plant. Kal. 182.) The opinions of Nicol and Monteith are at variance with those of Pontey and Sang, as to pruning resinous trees. Nicol advises leaving snags (Pract. Plant. 213.), and Monteith (Forest. Guide, 45.) says, "never cut off a branch till it has begun to rot, as the bleeding of a live branch will go far to kill the tree."

3696. Non-resinous trees, Sang observes, " should be pruned betimes, or rather from their infancy, and thenceforward at intervals of one, or at most two, years. If the pruning of young forest-trees is performed at intervals of eight or ten years, the growth is unnecessarily thrown away, and wounds are inflicted which will ever after remain blemishes in the timber; whereas, if the superfluous or competing branches had been

removed annually, and before they obtained a large size, the places from which they issued would be imperceptible, or at least not hurtful to the timber, when it came to the hand of the artist."

66

3697. The pruning of all deciduous trees should be begun at the top, or at least those branches which are to be removed from thence, should never be lost sight of. Having fixed upon what may be deemed the best shoot for a leader, or that by which the stem is most evidently to be elongated and enlarged, every other branch on the plant should be rendered subservient to it, either by removing them instantly, or by shortening them. Where a plant has branched into two or more rival stems, and there are no other very strong branches upon it, nothing more is required than simply to lop off the weakest clean by the bole, leaving only the strongest and most promising shoot. If three or four shoots or branches be contending for the ascendancy, they should, in like manner, be lopped off, leaving only the most promising. If any of the branches which have been left further down on the bole of the plant at former prunings have become very strong, or have extended their extremities far, they should either be taken clean off, by the bole, or be shortened at a proper distance from it; observing always to shorten at a lateral twig of considerable length. It is of importance that the tree be equally poised; and, therefore, if it have stronger branches on the one side than the other, they should either be removed or be shortened. Thus, a properly trained tree, under twenty feet in height, should appear light and spiral, from within a yard or two of the ground to the upper extremity; its stem being furnished with a moderate number of twigs and small branches, in order to detain the sap, and circulate it more equally through the plant.

3698. The subsequent prunings of trees of this size, standing in a close plantation, will require much less attention; all that is wanted will consist in keeping their leading shoots single. From the want of air, their lateral branches will not be allowed to extend, but will remain as twigs upon the stem. These, however, frequently become dead branches; and if such were allowed to remain at all on the trees, they would infallibly produce blemishes calculated greatly to diminish the value of the timber hence the impropriety of allowing any branch to die on the bole of a tree; indeed, all branches should be removed when they are alive; such a method, to our knowledge, being the only sure one to make good timber. From these circumstances, an annual pruning, or at least an annual examination of all forests, is necessary. (Plant. Kal.)

3699. Heading down such non-resinous trees as stole, we have already stated to be an important operation. After the trees have been three or four years planted, Sang directs, that "such as have not begun to grow freely should be headed down to within three or four inches of the ground. The cut must be made with the pruning-knife in a sloping direction, with one effort. Great care should be taken not to bend over the tree in the act of cutting. By so bending, the root may be split, a thing which too often happens. The operation should be performed in March, and not at an earlier period of the season, because the wounded part might receive much injury from the severe weather in January and February, and the expected shoot be thereby prevented from rising so strong and vigorous." (Plant. Kalend. 297.) Buffon, in a Memorial on the Culture of Woods, presented to the French government in 1742, says he has repeated this experiment so often, that he considers it as the most useful practice he knows in the culture of woods.

3700. For the purpose of producing bends for ship-timber, various modes of pruning have been proposed, as such bends always fetch the highest price. According to Pontey, "little is hazarded by saying, that if plenty of long, clean, straight, free-grown trees could be got, steaming and a screw apparatus would form bends.”

3701. Monteith, a timber valuator of great experience, and in extensive practice, says, the value of the oak, the broad-leaved elm, and Spanish chestnut, depends a good deal on their being crooked, as they are all used in ship building. He says he has seen trees successfully trained into crooked shapes of great value, in the following manner : "If you have an oak, elm, or chestnut, that has two stems, as it were, striving for the superiority, lop or prune off the straightest stem; and if a tree that is not likely to be of such value be standing on that side to which the stem left seems to incline to a horizontal position, take away the tree, and thus give the other every chance of growing horizontally At this time it will be necessary to take away a few of the perpendicular shoots off the horizontal branch; and, indeed, if these branches, which is sometimes the case in such trees, seem to contend, take away most of them; but if they do not, it is better at this time not to prune over much, except the crooked shoots on the horizontal branch, till they arrive at the height of fifteen, or even twenty feet. By this time it will be easily seen what kind of tree it is likely to form; and, if it inclines to grow crooked, lighten a little the top of the tree, by taking off a few of the crooked branches on the straighter side, allowing all the branches to remain on the side to which the tree inclines to crook, to give it more weight, and to draw most of the juice or sap that way,

and it will naturally incline more to the crook; at the same time clearing away any other tree on the crooked side, that may be apt, with the wind, to whip the side of the tree to which it inclines to crook. Also taking away such trees of less value as may prevent it from spreading out to the one side more than to the other." He adds, 'I have myself tried the experiment with several oak trees at about twelve feet high, that were a little inclined to crook, and that had also a main branch inclined to a horizontal position. In the course of less than twenty years, I had the pleasure of seeing some of these very trees grow so very crooked that the branch would work in with the main stem or body of the tree, to a complete knee, or square, which is the most valuable of all trees; and, as ten trees of crooked oak are required for one straight one, it is of the most essential consequence to have crooked oak trees; and besides, an oak tree, properly crooked, that will answer for a large knee, (say the main branch, to be fit to work in with the body or trunk of the tree without much waste of wood), is nearly double in value to the same number of straight trees; and, indeed, knees of oak are extremely scarce, and difficult to be got."

3702. Pontey" knows of no way by which bends of tolerable scantlings (knees excepted) can be produced with certainty and little trouble, but from a side branch kept in a bent position by the branches of another tree or trees overhanging its stem." (Forest Pruner, 174.)

3703. Coppice woods, in so far as grown for poles or bark, require pruning on the same principle as timber trees, in order to modify the ligneous matter into stem, and produce clean bark. In as far as they are grown for fence wood, fuel, or besom spray, no pruning is required.

3704. Osier holts require the laterals to be pinched off the shoots intended for hoops; those of the basket-maker seldom produce any. The stools, also, require to be kept free from dead wood, and stinted knotty protuberances.

3705. Hedges require side pruning, or switching, from their first planting, so as gradually to mould them into "the wedge shape, tapering from bottom to top on both sides equally, till they meet in a point at the top. Two feet at bottom is a sufficient breadth

for a five feet hedge; a greater or less height should have the bottom wider or narrower, accordingly. In dressing young hedges, either of the deciduous or evergreen kinds, the sides only should be cut till the hedge arrive at the proposed height, unless it be necessary, for the sake of shelter, to cut their tops over, in order to make the hedges thicker of branches. Such cutting of the upright shoots, however, is not of any great use in this respect; because every hawthorn hedge sends out a number of side shoots, which, if encouraged, by keeping the top wedge-shaped as above, will make it abundantly thick." (Sang, 447.) In pruning hedges, some use shears; but the hedge-bill is the most proper instrument, producing a smooth unfractured section, not so apt to throw out a number of small useless shoots as generally follow the bruised cut of the shears.

3706. Hedge-row trees require to be pruned to a tall, clean, erect stems, as at once producing more timber, and doing least injury to the ground under their drip and

shade.

3707. Trees in strips for shelter, or screens for concealment, ought to be furnished with branches from the bottom upwards; unless undergrowth supply this deficiency. Where this is not the case, care should be had that the trees be pruned into conical shapes, so as that the lower branches may be as little as possible excluded from the influence of the weather by the upper ones.

3708. Trees for shade, where shelter from winds is not wanting, should be pruned to ample spreading heads with naked stems; the stems should be of such a height that the sun's rays, at midday, in midsummer, may not fall within some yards of the base of the trunk; thus leaving under the trees, as well as on its shady side, a space for the repose of men or cattle.

SUBSECT. 4. Of Thinning Young Plantations.

3709. The properly thinning out of plantations, Sang observes, "is a matter of the first importance in their culture. However much attention be paid to the article of pruning, if the plantation be left too thick, it will be inevitably ruined. A circulation of air, neither too great nor small, is essential to the welfare of the whole. This should not be wanting at any period of the growth of the plantation; but in cases where it has been prevented by neglect, it should not be admitted all at once, or suddenly. Opening a plantation too much at once, is a sure way to destroy its health and vigor. In thinning, the consideration which should, in all cases, predominate, is to cut for the good of the timber left, disregarding the value of the thinnings. For, if we have it in our choice to leave a good, and take away a bad plant or kind, and if it be necessary that one of the two should fall, the only question should be, by leaving which of them shall we do most justice to the laudable intention of raising excellent and full sized timber for the benefit