1802

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

old.” Half of them may then be cut down, one half of the remaining 1000 at25 years old, and the remaining 500 at from 30 to 35 years old. “ To plantnurses, therefore, is attended with very great pecuniary advantage. It willnot only return the whole expense laid out in making the plantation, but pro-duce a very high rent for the land during the first 30 or 35 years ; whereas,if oaks alone were planted, nothing couid be gained during this period, ex-cept by cutting them down when between 20 and 25 years old, for the sakeof their bark.” (Prarf. Plant., p. 225.) The most valuable part of this writer’sobservations is what relates to the nature of the benefit to be derived fromthe nurses in such a climate as that of Aberdeenshire; which is, by preventingthe first rays of the sun from suddenly thawing the frosts which have fallenperpendicularly on the young oaks. “ The deleterious effects of spring andautumnal frosts arise chiefly from the leaves being subjected to a suddenchange of temperature, from the chills of the night to the strong rays of themorning sun. When the thaw takes place gradually, the injury done is com-paratively insignificant.” (p. 222.) “ If we wish, then, to preserve oaks fromfrost, we can do nothing better than to shade them from the morning sun.This we cannot do more effectually than by planting them, as above directed,among trees that have already made some progress. By such managementthe rays of the sun will not touch them till it has risen to a considerableheight above the horizon ; and thus time will be allowed for the frost to dis-sipate, and the night dews to evaporate, by a slow and gradual process; sothat the pernicious consequences arising to the young oaks from a suddenchange of temperature will be entirely prevented. It is not too much to saythat a plantation of young oaks, thus sheltered from the outset, will makemore progress in 5, than an unsheltered one will do in 10, years.” Theseobservations may be considered as principally applicable to cold districts,whether from elevation or latitude; but they are also judicious even withreference to plantations in the comparatively warm climate of the south ofEngland, as is evident by the practice of sheltering with Scotch pines in theplantations made in the New Forest, where the oak is indigenous, and wherethe soil is particularly well adapted to it.

Cobbett would plant oaks in rows 25 ft. apart, and 25 ft. apart in the row ;placing the plants of one row opposite the middle of the intervals between theplants in the next row. Then, he says, “ I would have four rows of hazel at5 ft. apart, and at 5 ft. apart in the row, between every two rows of oaks; andfour hazel plants between every two oaks in the row itself. The hazel wouldrather, perhaps, outgrow the oaks; but it would shelter them at the same time;and where the hazel interfered too much with the oaks, it might be cut awaywith the hook. By the time that the hazel coppices were fit to cut for the firsttime, the oaks would have attained a considerable height; perhaps 8ft. or 10ft.This would give them the mastership of the hazel; and, after the second cut-ting of the hazel, there would begin to be an oak wood, with a hazel coppicebeneath; and in the meanwhile the coppice would have produced very nearlyas much as it would have produced if there had been no oaks growing amongit. By the time that four cuttings of the hazel would have taken place, thecoppice would be completely subdued by the oaks. It would produce nomore hoops or hurdles; but tnen the oaks would be ready to afford a profit.”( Woodlands, p. 434.)

Mr. Yates, a planter who received a premium from the Society of Arts,having fixed on a proper soil and situation for a plantation of oaks, trenchesstrips of 3 ft. in width, and 30 ft. apart centre from centre, from 3 ft. to 6 ft. indepth ; it being his opinion that the oak derives its chief nutriment and strengthfrom the taproot. The intermediate space between the trenches may either beemployed for the growth of sheltering trees, pines or firs, or for hazel, or otherunderwood, or kept in grass. A row of acorns, 2 in. apart, is dibbled in alongthe centre of each trench; the plants produced by which are thinned out in theautumn of the year in which they come up, and every year afterwards, till theystand at 30 ft. apart. Pruning goes on every year, by removing, “ close to the