1808

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

among them. Under their protection, oak saplings, which delight in shelteredplaces, would thrive exceedingly; be safe from the browzing of cattle, withoutthe expense of fencing; and the lawns would become wooded with statelytimber. When oaks are planted in groups, one or other often gains the mas-tery, or forces the rest to bend forward till they have room for ascent. Treesin groups, when few in number, enjoy a liberty nearly equal to single ones:each tree has a space where its roots may draw nutrition; and, as these andthe branches usually follow the same direction, the leading roots of the exte-rior trees will tend outwards; and, finding nothing to obstruct their passage,will furnish supply sufficient to keep their trunks thriving, notwithstandingsuperiority of their antagonists. Hence it is manifest, that any quick-growingtrees of small value may be used as instruments for forcing seedling oaks outof their upright line. Cuttings of coppice withy (Salix caprea) will, by thefreedom of their growth, overpower the saplings, bearing them down almostto the ground for a time; and, the purpose being effected, may, for relief of theoaks, be cut down as often as requisite; till, as the oaks gain power, the withies,in their turn, give way. Plants like these, which extract nutrition of a dif-ferent nature, though they promote a crook, will not starve or check the oaksbeneath them. Trees growing out of a bank frequently take a favourableturn : such are accepted by the king’s purveyors as compass pieces, whichgain admission into the dockyards, though of less dimensions, and at a higherprice than straighter timber. It may be proper, therefore, in new enclosures,to throw up the banks high and broad; to plant quicksets on the outer slopes,and on the tops withies; and, at due distances near the base of the innerslopes, to dib in acorns, which in their future growth must incline forwards,to avoid the projecting withies, and be some years before they can attempt aperpendicular growth. In such cases the crook will be near the but end, inthe stoutest part of the timber, and the curve, thus formed in infancy, willretain its shape as long as the tree endures.” {Ibid., p. 59.)

Marshall has the following judicious observations on this subject: — “Inforests and other wastes, whether public or appropriated, especially where thesoil is of a deep clayey nature, oaks will rise spontaneously from seeds thathappen to be dropped, if the seedling plants should be in situations where theyare defended by underwood or rough bushes from the bite of pasturing ani-mals ; and some few of the plants thus fortuitously raised may chance to takethe form desired by the ship carpenter; but this is all mere matter of accident.By freeing the stems of young trees from side shoots, and by keeping theirleaders single, a length of stem is with certainty obtained; and, by afterwardschecking their right growth, and throwing the main strength of the head intoone principal bough (by checking, not removing, the rest), a crookedness oftimber is with the same certainty produced; and, what is equally necessary inship timber, a cleanness and evenness of contexture results at the same time.The dangerous, and too often, we fear, fatal, defect caused by the decayedtrunks of dead stem boughs being overgrown and hidden under a shell of soundtimber (a defect which every fortuitous tree is liable to) is, by this providenttreatment, avoided: the timber, from the pith to the sap, becoming uniformlysound, and of equal strength and durability.” (PI. and Rur. Or., vol. i. p. 141.)

Billington produced crooked timber, in His Majesty’s wood at Chopwell, inDurham, by fastening oak trees, that were not too strong to be hurt in bending,to larch trees, and keeping them “ in a bent position for about two years.”He tied the oaks to the larches with twisted withs, tarred twine, or matting;but, as he does not inform us in what state the trees were eight or ten yearsafter having been subjected to this operation, his experiment may be consideredas having been only commenced. He gives directions, illustrated by wood-cuts, for pruning oif the smaller branches from the larger ones, so as to leavethe head of the tree with only three or four large arms, instead of a multitudeof branches; and this operation, if commenced in time, and the side branchescut off 1 when not above 1 in. in diameter, promises to be of use. We haveheard nothing of these trees since, finding, on enquiry at the Office of Woods