1800

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

cated.” ( Matthew on Naval Timber, p. 38.) The experience of Mr. Matthewagrees with that of Mr. Webster ( Gard. Mag., vol. xii. p. 368.), and is, indeed,consonant to reason. Several planters of experience have stated to us, thatthey have found oaks of ten or twelve years’ growth, taken up without anypreparation, and the heads closely cut in when transplanted, succeed muchbetter than oaks one, two, or three years from the seed bed, or even smallertransplanted trees, in the same soil and situation. Alexander Milne, Esq.,one of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, informs us that thiswas the case several years ago, when a number of oaks, from 15 ft. to 20 ft. inheight, were thinned out of a government plantation in the Forest of Dean,closely cut in at root and top, and planted in the open common or forest,being only guarded from cattle by a few thorn bushes tied round their,sterns.The late Sir Uvedale Price was equally successful in transplanting oaks inthis manner, at Foxley.

Artificial Shelter, it is allowed by almost all writers on the culture of the oak,is essentially necessary to insure the rapid progress of a young plantation.This arises from the natural tenderness of the young shoots and early leavesof the oak, which, even in the south of England, are frequently destroyed ormuch injured by frost in May; while, in elevated situations, it is found thateven the bark does not so easily separate from the wood of standing treesafter a cold night. Modern planters seem to be all agreed, that the best modeof producing shelter for the oak is, by first covering the surface with Scotchpine, larch, or birch; the first being greatly preferred. After the nurse treeshave grown to the height of 4 ft. or 5 ft., openings should be cut in the plant-ations thus formed, at the rate of from 300 to 500 according to some, and of60 to 100 according to others, to the acre; and in each of these openings anacorn, or an oak plant should be inserted, the soil having been duly pre-pared. This practice seems to have originated at Welbeck, in Nottingham-shire, in the plantations made by the Duke of Portland, and to have beenfirst described by Speechly in Hunter’s edition of Evelyn’s Sylva; but ithas since been recommended by Pontey, in his Profitable Planter (4th. ed.,p. 213.); by Sang, in his edition of Nicol’s Planter's Kalendar (p. 294.); byBillington, in his Series of Facts, &c.; by Cruickshanks, in his Practical Planter;by Davis, in communications to the Bath and West of England Society; andby various others. It has also been extensively employed in the governmentplantations in the New Forest, Hampshire, under the care of Mr. RobertTurner, who, in 1819, was deputy surveyor of the New Forest; and to whomthe merit is due of having first applied this method systematically, and shownthe superiority of the Scotch pine, as a nurse plant for the oak, to all othertrees. The poplar is universally rejected as a nurse for the oak, on accountof the rapidity of its growth, and the very short period that elapses before itfills both soil and subsoil with its roots; and either covers the surface with itsbranches, or, if these are pruned off, raises its head to such a great height, thatno plant of slower growth than itself can thrive near it. The elm, from therapidity of its growth, is almost as objectionable as the poplar; and the samemay be said of the willow. The pine and fir tribe supplies by far the best nursesfor the oak, and, indeed, for all other hard-wooded timber trees; not onlyproducing the most effective shelter, but the most profit when cut down. TheScotch pine and the spruce fir are preferable to any other pines or firs, andto the larch, because they are hardier, and grow more erect; whereas thepinaster and the maritime pine, though they will both stand the sea breeze,and the larch, though it grows with great rapidity even on barren soils andon mountains, almost always lean over to one side.

Speechly, in the extensive oak plantations made for the Duke of Portlandin Nottinghamshire, on the exposed hills of what was formerly SherwoodForest, found the birch the most suitable tree for shelter; chiefly, we believe,because it springs up every where naturally in that part of the country, andseems to thrive in the light sandy surface soil there better than any other tree.Mr. Speechly also found that sowing the poorer parts of the hills with furze was