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THE WOODLANDS:

A TREATISE

On the preparing of ground for planting; on the planting; on tlie
cultivating; on the pruning; and on the cutting down of Forest
Trees and Underwoods ;

DESCRIBING

Tlie usual growth and size and the uses of each sort of tree, the seed
of each, tlie season and manner of collecting the seed, the manner
of preserving and of sowing it, and also the manner of managing
the young plants iintil fit to plant out;

THE TREES

Eeing arranged in Alphabetical Order, and the List of them, in-
cluding those of America as well as those of England, and the
English, French, and Latin name being prefixed to the directions
relative to each tree respectively.

BV -Wl-LlMlILTa COBBSTT.

LONDON:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM COBBETT,
No. 183, FLEET-STREET.

1825.

DEDICATION.

TO

WILLIAM BUDD, Esq.

CLERK OF THE PEACE FOR THE COUNTY OF BERKS.

Kensington, 1st December, 1825.

My dear Sir,

The follov, iiig work, which relates to a sub-
ject that has, in all the various situations of life,
even from my boyish days, engaged my attention
and been to me a source of delight, I dedicate to
you, in order that my children may, when they can
no longer hear it from their father's lips, have, what
I hope may be, a lasting record of an expression of
that great respect and attection that I bear you, on
accovmt of your numerous excellent qualities ; and
particularly on account of your constant exertions
in behalf of that now- suffering class, without whose
labour there can be no trees to shade, no houses to
lodge, no clothes to cover, and no corn to feed us.
Those exertions, so judicious, so unv/earied, and so
iree from all ostentation, are the subject of admira-
tion with all who have the happiness to know you;
but, I trust, with no one in a higher degree than with

Your faithful Friend

And most obedient Servant,

VVm. COBBETT.

PREFACE.

1. It will be unnecessary for me to say, here, any
thing about the manner, in which the divers parts
of this work will be arranged, seeing that that has
been so fully described in the title of the work
itself. Nor need I say any thing about the profit
attending the planting of trees ; because, occasions
enough will, hereafter, offer for the doing of that ;
and, besides, the profit depends upon the judicious
application of the means which the planter may
possess. I shall, therefore, here confine myself to
a few remarks, on Avhat appears to me to be the
defects in all the works of this kind which I have
ever seen. They all leave something, and some-
thing of importance too, untold to us. They begin
in the middle of the subject very frequently, and
end, as frequently, somewhere about where they
ought to begin. Many years ago, I wished to
know, whether I could raise Birch trees from the
seed. I looked into two French books and into
two English ones, without being able to learn
a word about the matter. I then looked into the
great book of knowledge, the Encyclopedia Bri-
TANNiCA : there I found, in the general dictionary,
" Birch Trke, see Betula ; Botany Index." I

PREFACE.

hastened to Betula, with great eaj^erncss ; and
there I found, " Betula, see Birch Tree." That
was all; and this was pretty encouragement to one
who wanted to get, from books, knowledge about
tlie propagating and the rearing of trees.

2. Some writers give j-ou the mere hot any of the
tree ; others its qualities as timber ; others tell you
what sround it dcliiifhts in ; others treat of the act
of planting ; others of priming and cultivation ; but
no book that I ever yet saw told me everij thing
that I ought to know, from the gathering of the
seed, to the rearing up and the cutting down of
the tree.

.'^. This is what I shall endeavour to do for my
readers in the course of this work ; and, as I pro-
ceed, I shall, I trust, take care, in all cases where it
may be found necessary, to give the reasons for
doing that which I advise to be done. Rules, with-
out reasons, have not a thousandth part of the
weight which they have when accompanied with
reasons. They savour of arbitrary commands, and
are seldom received with any great degree of do-
cility or attention.

4. I shall begin by giving instructions for pre-
paring the ground; for planting; and for culti-
vating after planting. These instructions are a|)-
plicablc to trees of all sorts ; and, therefore, they

PREFACE.

will properly precede the instructions relative to par-
ticular trees. After this will come the trees in
alphabetical order ; describing, under the head of
each tree, the several things mentioned in the title
of the work ; so that, the attentive and diligent
reader will, when he sees a seed upon a tree, know
what to do with that seed, so that it may, in due
time, become a tree.

5. The inducements to create property by tree-
planting are so many and so powerful, that, to the
greater part of those who possess the means, little, I
hope, need be said to urge them to the employing of
those means. Occasions enough will offer for show-
ing how quicklif the profits come. But, still there are
some persons, who possess such means, who are well
assured of the ultimate gain, but who are, never-
theless, discouraged by the thought that they shall
not live to see the actual pecuniary product of their
undertaking, and w^ho, according to the idea of that
dismal moralist. Dr. Johnson, begin to think of
dying when they are exhorted to plant a tree. Let
all such attend to the lesson given them in La Fon-
taine's beautiful Fable of the " Old Man and the
Three Young Men," the wise, the generous, the
noble sentiments of which ought to be implanted in
every human breast.

Un oclogcuaire plantoit.
Passe encor de bdtir ,- mais planter a cet Age .
Disoient trois joiivenceaux, enfants cUi voisinage ,•
Assur^nient il radotoit.

PREFACE.

Car, au noin de» dieux, je vous prie,
(^ncl fruit dc cc labeur pouvez-vous recueillir ?
Autaiit qii'uu patriarchc il vous faudroit vieillir.

A quoi boil charger voire vie
Des sains d'uii avenir qui u'cst pas fait pour vous ?
Ne songcz desormais qu'^ vos erreurs passecs .
Quittez le lon^ espoir et les vastes pens^cs ;
Tout cela ne couvieut tju'k nous.
II ne convient pas a vous-niCmes,
Repartit le vieillard. Tout etablissement
Vient tard et dure peu. La main des Parques bWmes
De vos jours et des miens se joue 6galemcnt.
Nos termes sont pareils par Icur rourtc duree.
Qui de nous des clart^« de la vo6te azur^e
Doit jouir le dernier ? Est-il aucun niument
Qui vous puisse assurer d'un second seulcnicnt .'
Mes arriert-neveux me devronl cet ombrage -.

H^ bien ! d^fendez-vous au sage
De se donncr des soins pour Ic plaisir d'autrui ?
Cela m^me est un fruit que je go/lite aujourd'hui :
J 'en puis jouir deuiain, et quelques jours enrore ;
Je puis enfin compter I'aurore
Plus d'une fois sur vos tombeaux.
Le vieillard eut raison : Tun des trois jouvenceaux
Se noya d^s le port, allant k I'Am^rique ;
L'autre, afiu de monter aux grandes dignities,
Dans les emplois de Mars servant la r^publi<iue,
Par uu coup iraprcvu vit ses jours emportes ;
Le troisieme toniba d'un arbre
Que lui-m^me il voulut enter :
Et pleur<>s du vieillard, il grava sur leur marbre
Ce que je viens de raconter.

6. To translate this is like an attempt to make a
thing to resemble the Rainbow ; and, therefore, I
beg those who may happen not to understand
French, to be pleased to receive, from my pen, the
following statement of the mere prosaic meaning of
these words of this absolutely inimitable writer.

PREFACE.

who, in marks of simplicity the most pleasing that
evei* followed the movements of a pen, has, on
numerous subjects, left, to ages unborn, philosophy
the most profound and sentiments the most just and
exalted.

A .MAN OF FOURSCORE was planting trees. *' To
'* build might jiass; but, to ptunt at such an age 1"
cxilaimed three vocng men of the neighboiir-
hoo(l. " Surely," said they, " you are doating ;
" for, in God's name, what reward lau you receive
" for this, unless you were to live as long as one
" of the Patriarchs ? What good can there be in
" loadin;; youi life «ith cares about a time which
"" you arc destined never to see ? 1' .ay de>ote the
" rest of your life to thoughts on your past errors ;
" give up distaut and grand expectations : these
" become only us young wen." — " They become
" not even you," answered the Old Man. " All
" we do comes late, and is quickly gone. The pale
" hand of fate sports equally with your days and
" with mine. The shortness of our lives puts us
" all on a level. Who can say which of us shall
*' last behold the light of heaven .' Can any mo-
" ment of your lives secure you even a second
" moment .' My great grand-children will owe
" shady groves to me : And, do you blame me for
" providing delight for others ! Why, the thought
*' of this is, of itself, a reward which I already
" enjoy ; I may enjoj it to-morrow, and for some
" days after that; nay, 1 may more than once
" even see the sun rise on your graves." The
Old Man was right : one of the three, ambitious
to see the New World, was drowned in the port;
another, pursuing fame in the service of Mars,
was suddenly stojiped by an unexpecteil shot ; the
third fell from a tiee, on which he himself was
putting a giafF: and the Old Man, lamenting *

their sad end, engraved on their tomb the story
here related.

PREFACE.

7. I do not pretend, that, in publishing this
work, I am aetuated soldi/ by a desire to promote
public and private utiHty. There is the gratifica-
tion of my o\yn taste, the indulgence of my own
delight in talking about trees ; and there are, be-
sides, the more ordinary motives of fame and pro-
fit: but, I think I do myself no more than jus-
tice, in saying, that the work must necessarily have
a tendency to produce good, both public and private ;
while it Avill always be a singular satisfaction to me to
reflect, that it may tend to induce, here and there, a
father of a family to point out to his sons and daugh-
ters, that it is more honourable, and attended with
more happiness, to be provided with competent and
secure fortunes by the ,s()wiiig and the planting of
trees, than by endeavouring to succeed in attaining
that object after the manner of the base Jews and
Jobbers, who win their half-millions bv " watchini?
" the turn of the market."

8. I shall, throughout the work, mimher the para-
f[raphs, and not ///e pages ; the former being nuich
the most convenient for purposes of reference : and,
at the close, I shall give an Index, referring to the
several matters which the work contains.

Wm. COBBEIT,

Kfiisington, \st Deceinher, 182.'..

THE WOODLANDS:

OK,

A TREATISE, &c.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS,
RELATIVE TO TREE - PL AN TI N G.

Of thr. sorts of [/round, in ivhick to plant Timber Trees
and i ndcrtcood.

Of the method of preparivff the ground for planting, and
of the expense.

Of fencing the ground.

Of the times of the year, and of the weather, for planting.

Of the age and size of the Plants, and of preparing their
roots for planting.

Of the method of performing the work of planting.

OF THE SORTS OF GROUND.

9. Under the name of each sort of tiee will be men-
tioned the sort of ground in which it ought to be phinted,
or in which it may be j)lanted with a fair chance of success.
I shall, therefore, here, merely describe the sorts of ground
that we commonly find in England. 1. A black mould
with a broAvn mould under it, and then, at a pretty good
depth, sand, or gravel, or brick-earth, or clay, or a stone
of some sort. 2. A reddish loose loam, with stone of some

General Instructions.

sort beneath it. 3. A brown loose loam, with gravel, sand,
brick-earth, or clay or stone beneath. 4. A stiff and
reddish loam, with large flints (yellow ontside and whitish
inside) amongst it, and with chalk, at varions depth?, be-
neath. 5. A loose grey earth, full of flints (grey outside
and blue inside) on a bed of chalk, not far distant. 6. A
marley top soil with chalk beneath. 7. A niarley soil M'ith
grey, or white, stone beneath. 8, A stiff loam with clay
beneath, and not far from it. 9. A loose sandy loam with
brick-earth beneath. 10. A loose sandy loam with clear
white sand to a great depth beneath. 11. A very light
reddish sandy loam with red sand, or sand-stone, beneath.
12. A bhick-grey sandy loam, with sand or sand-stone not
far beneath. 13. A stiff loam, mixed with small gravel at
t()p, and with clay beneath. 14. A loose grey soil, mixed
with pebbles, at top, and a bed of gravel beneath. 15.
Boggy ground. 16. Stift' ground with water not far be-
neath. 17. Water-sides.

10. There are several other sorts of ground ; so great is,
indeed, the variety, that it would require a volume, much
larger than this will be, barely to give any thing approach-
ing towards a full and accurate description of each. Here
is, however, enough for any practical purpose ; for, the
difference between any cue of the above-mentioned soils
and any other, approaching in nature towards it, is not, as
to its capacity for bearirg tiees, so great as to make the
remarks, applicable to the former, inap])licable to the
latter.

PREPARING THE GROUND FOR PLANTING.

1 1 . How many millions have been thrown mvay in plant-
ing 1 How many thousands of plantations have, at the
end of twenty or fifty years, made a beggarly exhibition j

Prkparing the Ground.

and how many of them have wholly failed ! Yet, no truth
is more evident to my mind than this ; that no plantation
ever failed, except from the manifest error of the pro-
prietor. It is woise than useless to plant, unless you do
the whole thing well ; because, instead of creating a source
of profit and of pleasure, you create a source of loss and
of mortification. Planters but too often have, when they
are about to plant, the word economy on their lips; and,
they do not treat that word fairly; for, it really means
nothing- more than mmiagement, whereas they will have it
mean sparing in expense: and, then, they abuse it still
further by making it mean positive sparing : so that, at
last, they come to the conclusion, that that is the wisest
plan which costs the least sum to the acre, without any re-
gard to the sorts of trees or to the manner of planting
them.

12. This is, at first sight, very strange ; for, when a man
is about to sow corn, or j)lant cabbages, he thinks of the
produce, as well as of the cost of sowing and planting ;
and, he expects a crop proportioned to his expense of seed,
manure and tillage. But, it would seem, if one were to
judge from the manner in which planting is generally
executed, that tree - planters care nothing at all about
the result ; that they think, that, to plant is to plant, as
to die is to die; that the manner is of very little con-
sequence; and that, therefore, the less the plantation
cost, the better. It is very well known, that, to spare
manure and tillage, in the cultivation of corn, is the
sure way to lose money. It is very well known, that it is
better not to sow corn at all, than to do it badly. And yet
men in general, seem wholly to forget this when they are
planting trees. The chief cause of this strange way of
thinking is, that the returns, from corn-sowing, are near at

General Instructions.

hand, and tliat those from tree-planting are distant ; but,
thongli the actual pecuniary receipts from tree-planting" may
be distant; and, though they were (which is not the case)
always very distant j still the returns, as to increase of value
of property^ are not more distant, and, indeed, not so
distant, as those from the sowing of corn ; for, the moment
your trees are in the ground, your land is increased in
value ; and, were it to be sold, woidd sell, in porportion to
the worth of the plantation, for more than it would have
sold before. If the trees have had a year or two of growth,
that growth makes a further addition to the value of the
land ; and so on for every year, until the trees be fit for cut-
ting down. If, indeed, it be immediate annual income that you
want; if you cannot aflord to wait for the effects of plant-
ing, that is a very good reason for not planting at all; but
it is no reason for planting in what is called a cheap manner.

13. There is another cause for this clieap planting, which
is the more difficult to counteract as it arises out of a feel-
ing which is almo.-t natural to the heart of man ; namely, a
desire to possess a great extent of plantation. Men in general
like to talk, aye, and even to think, of the number of acres
which they have of land, or of any thing growing on land.
Nevertheless, as it is perfectly notorious, that it is better to
have one acre of good crop of wheat, than a hundred acres
of crop which does little more than equal the amount of
the seed, why may not one acre of good plantation be worth
more than a hundred of bad plantation ? 1 have seen more
than a hundred acres, Avhich was planted about twenty-five
years before I saw it, planted ^vith firs, birch, and other
such things, costing, in trees and planting, about 3/. lOs.
an acre. So that, besides the fencing (an expensive thing),
here was the sum of 350/. There had been no actual re-
ceipts from it J and the trees, if cut down and sold, would

Preparing thk Ground.

liardly liave fetched an amount equal to the expenditure
and the interest, reckoning- not a fartliing for the rent of
the land. There were, in this tract, about seven acres of
pretty good land in two little dells. Now, if the owner
had planted these with ashf or with chesnut (not to mention
locust) at an expense of 12/. an acre, the seven acres
would, at the time when I saw the plantation, have yielded
him two cuttings, worth 15/. an acre the first cutting, and
25/. an acre the second. So that here would, in the space
of twenty-five years, have been (exclusive of fencing) an
expenditure of 84/., and a receipt of 280/. And, observe,
that, in this case, the stools, or stems, would still be ready
to go on producing similar crops, once in ten years, for
ages. But, then, alas ! the owner would have possessed
nothing but a bleak heath, with a couple of little coppices
in its dells, instead of being the lord of a " hundred acres
of woods" !

14. The first thing to be done, in the making of a planta-
tion, is to trench the ground to two feet deep at the least.
I shall first describe the icork of trenching, and afterwards
give my reasons for the performing of it. You begin by
marking out with a line, two feet wide, on one side or end,
of your piece of ground. You strain your line across the
piece of ground, two feet from the outside of the piece.
Then the workmen chop with their spades along against
the line. Then, they measure another two feet, and chop
along again. When they have thus marked out a few
trenches, they begin digging out the first trench, the earth
of which, to the depth of two feet, they wheel away to the
other end of the piece, to be ready there to fill up the last
trench vvith. I am here supposing the j)iece of ground to
])e so small as for the wheeling of the earth not to be
distant, and as to cause no inconvei)ience in taking the

Genbral Instructions.

whole width at one trench. But, if the piece of ground
bfi large, it will not be worth while to carry the earth of
the first trench away. It may be disposed of by throwing
it back, over the ground about to be trenched.

15. Let us su[)pose a piece of ground containing an
acre, and, the rules for trenching such a piece will apply
to a piece of any extent. It would, in such a case, even
if the outsides were all straight lines, be inconvenient to
open at once, so long a trencli as would reach from one
side to the other. The trench might be in length propor-
tioned to the number of workmen, allowing about half a
rod to each, so as not to crowd them too much. Suppose
the piece of ground to be 13 rod, or perch, long, and 12
rod wide, which piece will then contain o)ie acre all but 4
rod. Let us suppose the sides to be straight, and that four
men are to trench this piece of ground.

16. First mark out the piece into Ufis ; that is to say,
into strips of the width that the men are to trench at a time.
They are called lifts, because men are said to carry so much
ground, or space, in their works of the field or garden.
A mower, who takes a wide swarth, is said to carry more
ground than he who takes a narrow one. Any width of
ground that is dug, or hoed, at once going along, leaving
the rest of the field to be worked on in like manner, is,
therefore, called a lifli and it is necessary to bear the
word in mind. There must be some word to designate
the thing, and this is as good as any other.

I/. Tiie supposed piece of ground is 12 rod wide and 13
long. Doing the work longwise there will be 6 lifts each of
2 rod wide ; and this piece, marked out into lifts, let us
suppose to be represented by the following lines, which arc

Prkparinc; thk Ground.

as well placed as the thing can be done by mere printing-
materials.

F.

D.

H.

K.

L.

i\I.

18. Here is the piece of ground, marked out into lifts,
each two rod wide. You begin at a, measuring two feet
wide, and, M'ith a line, marking out a trench across
the lift. If you mean to be very nice about it, wheel
the earth tliat comes out of this trench, to the end of
the last lift, at P, in order to have it ready to fill up
the last trench with. But, in ordinary cases, this earth

General Instructions.

may be disposed of as mentioned in paragraj)!! 14. You
have no\v got the trench a clean out to the depth of two
feet. Then you take a spit oti' the top of trench h, and,
put it, upside down, at the bottom of trcneli a. Then
go on to dig out all the rest of the earth in trench Z»,
and lay it in trench a, keej) the sides and the ends of
your trench perpendicular, and go down till you Ijave
the trench clean two feet deep in every part of it, lay-
ing in trench a all that comes out of b; and you will
find that the earth of trench a is now six or seven inches
higher than the common surface of the untrenched land.
You now proceed to trench c, and repeat the operation :
and thus you go on, all along the lift, to the end D. But,
before I speak of what you are to do there, I must observe,
tliat the top spits of b, when flung into the bottom of o,
ought not to be broken, but to be turned in whole; for the
more hollow the ground lie the better; and these spits,
especially if they be niade solid by the roots of grass, will
have cavities amongst them at the bottom of the trench,
which are a great benefit. It is not necessary, nor is it
useful, to make the trenched ground smooth at top. It
should be level; that is to say, not in heaps and holes ;
but, there is no good, but haim, in breaking it fine and
making it smooth, especially if the weather be wet when
the work is going on. If you have a njind to do the
work veiy well, you will, wlien you have got trench a
empty to two feet deep, dig it at the bottom of it a spit deep.
That is to say, turn the bottom upside down a clean spit
deep, which, if the sj)ade be of the right length, and if the
digger have some bacon and beer in Ijim, will move the
ground another foot down, and this will raise the new
ground another two inches.

19. When you come to the end D, you will have a trench

Preparing thk Ground.

oj)en, and no earth to turn into it. Therefore, you take the
earth of the first trench in the next lift, at E, and wheel,
or tlu'ow, it into that open trench, putting the top spits at
the hottoni, and so on, as before. You have now got a
clean open trench to go on along the second lift, till you
come to F, where you are to fill up your last open trencli
by taking the earth from the first trench at G. And thus
yoii go on from G to H, from H to I, from I to K, from K
to L, from L to M, from M to N, and from N to P, when
all yoiH' ground will have been turned upside down to the
depth of two feet, and when the whole piece will lie six or
seven inches higher than it did before.

20. But, the soil may be such, that this operation would
turn down to the bottom whatever there is of good mould,
and bring to the top something in which hardly any thing
will ever strike root; clear chalk, for instance, or pure
sand, or gravel, or clay fit to make pots or pipes; or some
other hungry stufl", in which the young trees would hardly
live, and never could grow. When this is the case, the top
mould must still be kept at the top; but still the trenching
must be performed ; for the ground must be moved and
turned, to the two feet deep.

21. But here the method of trenching is ditferent from
that just described. You begin, as before, by opening the
trench a, and disposing of the contents as mentioned in
paragraph 1 S. But, then, you do not turn into the bottom
of trench « the top of trend; h ; you take off (he top of
trench b, a clean spit, or to the depth of the good mould,
if that be not a sj)it deep. You dispose of this top mould
of b, in the same way as of the contents of a. Now, then, you
have a clean trench, a, two feet deep, and you have along
side of it, yet unmoved, all except the top mould of trencii Z».

B 2

Gbneral Instructions.

Yoii then take this reniainiiig part of h, and turn it into
trench «. When that is done, you will have trench h clean
out, two feet deep ; but trench a will want its top spit. This
you then take from the top of trench c, and, throwing it
across Z>, place it so as to form the top of a, whicli is then
complete, having heen moved to two feet deep, and still
having the good mould at the top. You then take the bottom
part of c and turn it into Z»; and then you take the top of
10, and, throwing it across c, form with it the top or finish-
ing of Z>, which, like a, will then be complete, having, like
it, the good mould at top. Thus you go on throughout the
whole piece of ground. The only difference between the
labour of this method and that of the other method, is,
that you have all the top mould to toss to an average dis-
tance of three feet, instead of an average distance of one
foot ; and, in point of expense, this can hardly make an ad-
dition of more than a tenth; for, when a man has earth
upon his spade, it is, iniless he be too feeble to be a trencher,
of little consequence to him whether he toss it three feet or
one foot.

22. When once young trees have got root, they will send
their roots down into almost any thing that has been moved.
Besides, though the old top does, in this case, not go to the
bottom, that which is next to the old top goes to the bot-
tom ; and there is, moreover, such a mixture takes place as
produces a fermentation ; and this has great power in keep-
ing the ground moist in dry weather, and in making it
favourable for all sorts of plants. But it must be observed,
that when you use this mode of trenching, which is to keep
the top mould still at the top, the ground should be dean,
free from grass and perennial weeds ; for these, being so
near the top of the trenched ground, would not be killed
by the trenching, and would be exceedingly troublesome

Preparing thk Ground.

afterwards, when they could he extirpated only by great
labour. The plough and the harrow and the fire must, in
this case, prepare the top before the trenching begins;
but, in the other case, where the top is to go to the bottom,
it is, for the reason before stated, rather an advantage to
have the top spit go down in solid lumps; but if there
be any dock, thistle, or dandelion roots, they ought to be
carefully taken out in the trenching, for no depth of bury-
ing will kill them.

23. If the bottom be of clay, of even the stifFest kind,
and if there be 'plenty of manure at hand, it may do very
well to put the top mould down to the bottom of the
trench ; but if you have not plenty of manure, the clay at
top is bad, and young trees ^vill be a very long while before
they make any progress. And, as to sheer sand, or chalk, or
sand-stone, these, if brought up to the top, will be ages
before they become fit for planting. In short, if you can-
not manure well, or bring up a pretty good soil from the
bottom, you should, by all means, keep the old top soil still
at top. When the trees have stricken into that, their roots
will go down into almost any soil that has been recently
moved, but they will not strike at first in such poor and
raw soil. This being the case, and it being also the case
that plantations are generally made m land where the bot-
tom is not of a good quality, it is necessary to think of the
manner of preparing the top soil previous to trenching.

24. If the ground, intended for that mode of trenching
which keeps the top soil still at the top, be covered with
grass and perennial weeds, or if it be green turf, it ought to
be broken up Avith the plough, and made clean by the har-
row, and by burning the roots of the grass and weeds, just
the same as if about to be used as arable land, If the

General Instructions.

ground be covored mUIi heath or J'ur:^.e (soniclhncs cidlcd
goss, and sometimes ling), the lieath and furze, if not Avortli
any thing as fuel, and, at any rate their roots, ouglit to be
grubbed up, and burnt in large heaps, at regular distances
on the ground. The readiest way of grubbing the heath,
is to do it by cutting off a thin turf all over the ground.
This turf will, when dry, burn very well, and will make
a great quantity of ashes. When the trenchers have worked
up to one of these heaps of ashes, they spread the lieap
over the trenched ground ; so that when the whole piece is
trenched, it will have a dressing of ashes upon it, and this
will very materially help the young trees.

25. 1 have spoken only of the spade, as a tool to be used
in trenching; but in stony or gravelly ground, or in chalk,
a spud, with three grains, such as they use in the hop-
countries, would be necessary ; and, in some cases, a pick-
axe, for moving the bottom part ; for, let it always be borne
in mind, to move the ground deep and to turn it over are
things absolutely necessary to successful planting.

26. There are cases, such as that of low, marshy or wet,
grass ground, where it might answer very well to pare off
the top in summer, and burn it, using the ashes in the
above way. For, it might be difficult to plough in such
land ; and still more difficult to make the surface so clean
as it ought to be, if it were advisable to keep the top soil at
tap, which, generally speaking, is the case, especially in
land of this description.

27. If there be a icet bottom, whei'e rushes grow, there
must be draining; for, where rushes thrive, trees will not.
The stagnant water must be removed by draining, or it is
useless to plant trees. The oak, when it has got root, will

Preparing the Ground.

go down into the stiffest and sourest of clay ; but it will
not thrive, and will hardly live, if there be stagnant water
at bottouK Open drains, or ditches, are not much incon-
venience in Avoods, where no carriage need ever go, except
at the time of cutting down.

!28. Whether trees be placed in large plantations, or in
clumps, or in sbigle roivs, or along by icater-sides, the pre-
paration of the ground ought to be the same; only, in the
last two cases, there M-ill be holes only to [)repare, unless
the trees be to stand near to each other, and then it v.'ill
be best to trench a ship all along, about ten feet wide. If
in holes, the hole ought to be not less than of ten feet dia-
meter, if possible; for, to put a tree into a small hole is
only putting it into a very large pot. I shall, further on,
speak of preparing trees for avenues, Avhich are certainly
very beautiful things, and which, when they fail, generally
fail from want of skill, or of care, in the planter.

29. Now, as to the reasons for trenching ground about to
be planted with trees, the first is, that, whenever you move
earth, there is \i fomentation that takes place, and this fo-
mentation causes a division of the ground into smaller
particles, which, as Mr. Tull has clearly shown, is fhe
great use of manure. By exposing earth, long buried
from the sun and air, you make it more fit for the food of
plants. When loose to a good depth, it absorbs the rains
and dews more quickly, and retains them longer. It is a
great mistake to suppose that plants want the ground
moved no deeper than their roots go. If this were the case,
plants (as I have elsewhere observed) with very short roots
might be cultivated on a brick or stone pavement with earth
laid upon it to the thickness of a foot ; and yet, no plant will
live and thrive in such a state; though it will do verv well

Generai- Instructions.

along side of the pavement, though in ground moved only
a foot deep. The solid ground, though it luis lain unmoved
for thousands of years, is not ctpial in hardness to a pave-
ment : it is stilt porous in a certain degree : even chalk
admits the rains and dews; and, where the hottom is stone,
it has openings in it. But, the unmoved bottom, he it of
what nature it may, is not so good as the moved bottom
which has had the air let into it. Then comes experience,
which universally proclaims the great benefit of deeply
moving the ground. Even the market-gardeners, near
London, Mhen they are prej)aring for an extrordinarily
valuable crop, give their ground what they call a bastard-
trenching. This is done by taking oft" one spit from trench
a, for instance, and wheeling it away to the point where the
work is to end; then diggifig the hottom of trench a, as
mentioned at the clos>e of paragrjiph 18; then turning in,
upon that the top spit of trench h ; then digging the bottom
of trench h ; then turning in upon that the top spit of trench
c; and thus throughout the piece. This moves the ground
about 18 inches deep, and keeps the top soil still at the top.
It costs about twice as much as plain digging; and, we may
be sure that it would not be done, if experience had not
convinced these skilful men, that there was gai» attending
thi» additional expense. If, ihen, they do this for their cab-
bages and brocoli, ought a tree })lanter to hesitate upon
the subject ?

30. The expense of trenching must necessarily differ with
the diftcrence in the nature of the soil ; but, on an average
of soils, a man will trench three rod in a day ; and,
at the present price of provisions (bread 2d. a pound
and bacon Od.) a man ought to earn 2s. Qd. a day.
This is, then, 10(/. a rod, or//. ]3s. 4d. an acre; or,
reckoning to the utmost, suppose it to be 8/. Many a one

Preparinc the Ground.

will exclaim : why, that is more than the land is worth if it
were to be sold! And, what of that? The question is no-
thing at all about the worth of the land ; but about theprqfit
that you may make by planting it in a proper manner. The
small worth of the land is rather an argument against you,
uidess you take it for granted, that your produce will not
|)ay you ; and, if you do that, it would be better not to plant
at all. 1 shall, hereafter, shoAv, that there is hardly any land
that it will not answer to trench, and that, too, in the very
best manner.

31. In order to have the trenching well and truly done,
the best way is for the men to work bi/ the day, and not by
the rod. Reaping, mowing, hedging, ditching, and many
other sorts of work, is, perhaps, best done by measure, or
by tale, or by the job. But, when the thing is not above
board, the temptation to sliglit the work is too strong.
" Dead nun tell no tales;" and a trench is a grave. The
colour of the ground, and jwking a slick down here and
there, will tell a pietty good judge, whether justice have
been done you. But, these are not effectual ; and, at last,
there come accusations on one side and protestations on the
other, neither of which make the matter much better. The
best way is to pay the men by the day, to pay them at a
rate that Mill enable them to eat two pounds of bread and
a pound of bacon a day, and to drink two quarts of beer 18
gallons to the bushel of malt. All these will now cost
l.v. 5fZ. a day; and, if you give 2^. Gd. a day, the man will
have \s. Id. left for other purposes, of which, whether he
be married or single, there will be enough present them-
selves to him. It is useless to set a parcel of half-starved,
reeling creatures at work like this. They cannot move
inmhhj in laying out the lifts and the trenches. You cannot
call up a man to run and jump, when you see liim hardly

General Instructions.

able to drag his carcase along-. And, how can you expect
such a creature to lift a spit of earth, weighing from 8 to 12
pounds, about aix thotimnd times in a day I

32. The best, and, hi the end, the cheapest way is to eni-
plov men by the day ; to have a really good and trusty man to
icorlc icith them (example is better than scolding) ; to see them
begin well yourself; to visit them often ; to repeat, at cveiy visit
(for their memories are short), your orders as to the manner
of doing the work, and to insist on their keeping steadily at
work, for if men keep on, they will almost always do work
enough. The straight back and the gossip are the great
enemies of the [»rogress of the labours of the ticld. But
tlie great things of all (next after sufTicicnt pay), arc yuur
oioi presence on, or near, the spot, and a conviction in the
minds of the men, that you lutderstaiid the whole of the biisi-
tiess well. If you co«/<i just take the spade, or spud, and
sliow them a little now-and-then ; if you coitld do such a
thing, it would be a great additional benefit; aiid 1 pledge
my word to you, that it would do harm to neither your body
nor your mind. The two first fingers of my right hand
are still somewhat bent, from having been, more than forty
yeais ago, so often in close embrace Avith the eye of the
spade and the handle of the hoe; but I do not find that
this bend makes them the less fit for the use to which they
are at present applied. What think you of a short lesson
in the garden every day before breakfa«t lor a month, be-
fore your trenching begin ? This would be attended with
one signal and most important advantage; namely, it would,
by the appetite it wouhl give you, enable you to judge
what portion of food ought to be allotted to the man who
lifts six thousand heavy spits a day. And, as to the charac-
ter of such an act, the Enijieror of China holds the plough
once a year ; and, besides, why should it be more degra<ling

Prepaiiing the Ground.

to von to be as skilful as your gardtincM'j than it is to be as
skilful ill tbe infinitely lower business of your groom, or
your (log-feetier? However, if this manual act be too
Muich to expect, let me exhort you to let your workmen be
thoroughly convinced that you ^inderstaiul all the matter ucll.
Let me exhort you to give simple and positive orders, and
never, no, never, to encourage, by your hesitation, even
your bailitr or gardener so much as to offer you advice.

33. There is one part of this work which the owner
ought always to attend to in person ; namely, the laying of
the ground out into lifts. If the liftr? be long, a fine cannot
be stretched to the whole length at once. The slicking- uj)
of sticks (or poles if tin; ground be in hills and dells) must
be resorted to. This, if set about in the right manner (of
M'hich I will speak when 1 come io planting), is the easiest
thing in the world; and yet, if left to workmen, they, with
their feet and hands and tongues, will, especially if the
ground be of uneven surface, or very irregular form, trot
and poke and muddle and bawl about, from day-light to
dark, in doing that badly which a head and a pair of eyes
would cause to bs done well in an hour. You should look
at your men, when they begin trenching, and pick out two
of the nimblest and handiest, to measure out and mark the
trenches for some distance on. You should interfere, and
show, or at least tell, those men how to measure, how to
move the line, and how to make the marks by the side of
it. This would give them a high opinion of your knowledge
of the matter ; and this would save you all the disagreeable
trouble of finding fault, and save you a great deal of money
into the bargain. But, above all things, avoid asking their
advice, and even telling them your intentions. If you do
this, even with the foreman, they will all soon become coun-
cillors. They will deliberate ten times a day; and those

General iNSTiiucrroNS.

who dclibrnite know not any sense in the word obedience.
As many hands as yon Hke ; hut only 07ie headf if you mean
to avoid the mortification of seeing your object defeated.

OF FENCIXC. THE GROUND.

')4. In many instances there are fences ah-eady, and then
you have only to keep these fences good, and, where hares
and rabbits abound, to keep them out as completely as pos-
sible. But it frequently happens, that a piece of raw ground
is to be planted ; and then there must be a new and eiiec-
tual I'ence made. Suj)pose it to be part of a tract, on which
cattle and sheep arc turned out. The fence must not only
be etfectual at first, but durable. In short, it must be a Uve
fence. The fence itself is a plantation, then ; and it is one
which demands even greater care than any other; for, if it
be insufiicient, }'ou plant the ground without even a chance
of success. The JVhiie-tlunii seldom glows \vell, or, at
least, quick/'H, in light and poor ground, or in chalk; biU,
I know of no ground, in which it wotdd not do well, and
get U|) tpiickly, if well planted and well managed. The
usual way, in cases such as that here supposed, is, to throw
up a hank on the edge of the enclosed land. Thus the base
of the bank is the solid groiuid. Upon this solid ground
comes the fop moidd from the ditch. The top of the bank
is composed of the eartli from the bottom of the ditch,
which is the very tcors^t earth to be found on the spot ; and
in this earth, laid in a shape never to suck in a drop of Met,
and to be dried and baked through and through, the hedge
of small quicks is planted, and there left to carry on, single-
handed, a contest against the combined forces of docks,
thistles, and the coarsest kinds of grass. At the end of five
or six years the mortified owner sees here and there a white-
thorn alive; and he ought to bless his stars that he can see
even these.

Fencing.

35. Now, ill the first place, when tlie outsides of the
groiinti are marked out, the ground wliere the bank is to
he ought to be trenched, agreeably to the foregoing direc-
tion's, keeping the old top soil still at top. Then the to[)
soil of the ditch, five or six feet wide, ought to be laid ujjon
this trenched ground, making a bank three feet wide at
top, and level there, in order that it may hold some water
when sunk a little in the middle. This will make a bank
full two feet above the level of the ground, because the
trenching under it will have raised the earth six inches at
least. Then, in order to have the protection of a ditch, all
the bottom of the ditch, to the depth of two and a half feet
below the top soil, ought to be thrown out on the other side.
This ditch itself would be nearly an effectual fence against
cattle, sheep and pigsj at least, it would be such for a year
or two, until a great mouldering down took place.

36. The bank being formed in this way, qaichset (other-
wise called whitethorn) plants, four or five years old, and
removed previous to their last year's growth, each plant
being as big at bottom as a man's (a labouring man's) fore-
finger, should be planted, any time between September and
April ; and cut down, at the time of planting, to within a
foot of the ground. The manner of planting and of pruning
the roots will be seen under another head. The plants
should stand 15 inches asunder; they should be in one row,
and that row about a foot from the outside Gi\^e of the top
of the bank. The ground on the top of the bank should
slope a little, from the outside edges to the stems of the
plants, in order for them to receive the rains at their roots.
Through the summer, the ground on each side of them
should be /joec/ pretty deeply, and ke[)t (juite clean. These
plants would, the first year, make long and strong shoots.
The next si)ring cut them down to within an inch of the

GuNKRAL Instructions.

ground. Go over them in June, and cut oflf all their shoots
close to the stem, except the two strongest of each plant;
and, the ground must be ])oor indeed, if these do not, dur-
ing the summer, get to be three feet high at the least. Let
them go on another year. Tiiese shoots will then be five
feet high. Then, in winter, take one of the shoots of each
plant, and plash it close to the bottom ; that is to say, bend
it down longwise the hedge, and give it a cut on the upper
side about two inches h'om the stem ; cut off the top of it
so as to leave the remainder about a foot and a half long ;
beud it down to the ground, uudving it lie as close as possi-
ble to the stems of the neighbouring plant ; and fasten it
to the ground with tico pegs. \A^heu you have done this
all the wav along, there will be one plash for every interval
between the stems of the plants. You must, of course,
lay the plashes with their points all one way. When this
is done, cut down the upright shoots to within four inches
of the bottom. The next October, that is to say, at the
end o( {he fourth summer, you will have a complete, efficient
and beautiful fence. It will want topping and side-pruning
in order to keep it of uniform height, and to ])revent
the top and sides from injuring the bottom shoots, by drip
and shade. It is, of course, understood, that the hedge
has been kept quite clear of grass and weeds all these four
summers.

37. Never was there a greater mistake than to suppose
that you get a cheap hedge by using low-priced plants, or,
that you get a close hedge by using mimerous j)lants. As to
the former, a yard of broad-cloth may be cheap at thirty
shillings, while a yard of the fabric of the Cotton Lords may
be dear at one single penny. Besides, so few plants in
number, are wanted, according to my plan, that even the
Jirst cost may be less than that occasioned by the common

Fjsncing.

method of pliuiting quickset hedges. I shall, under the
word " Haicthoni" or " friiitethorn," treat of the inauuer
of rearing the plants. Then, as to the other error ; namely,
the supposition that a close hedge is obtained by putting the
plants very near to one another ; who ever saw any planiSy
of any kind, thrive, if standing so close as to struggle for
subsistence ? Such struggle immediately begins, in a
thickly set hedge. Some i)lants are stronger than others.
The plants are much too young for you to ensure iirdformiiy
in their size ajid strength, which is a great thing, and
ought in no plantation to he overlooked. The weaker
plants are subdued. The growth is uuevcn. There are
lovo places. Every person and thing, wishing to cross the
hedge, is invited to these. Gaps come ; and then the hedge
is not worth a straw. In very good ground, this hardy
plant will, even when thus mismanaged, get up; but, it will
be feeble, have a big top and a hollow bottom. Whereas,
by giving each plant 15 inches of space, you leave room
for its roots to get food; by using Zar^e plants you secure
uniformity of size, and, of growth. You quickly get stout
stems ; your shoots are strong ; and you get an effectual
fence in half the usual time. Suppose a hundred acres of
land in a square form. The four sides will be, in length,
500 rods, or thereabouts. To plant these witii quicksets,
according to my plan, takes about 6,700 plants; and, I
have many times seen more than at the rate of 20,000
plants to a like space. Then, they are so easily hoed and
kept clean, when thinly planted; and (which is a thing by
no means to be overlooked) a hare, which, in half a minute,
snaps off four or five small quicks to make herself a con-
venient promenade, is under no temptation to molest the
large plants, which present, besides, much too tough a job
for her to perform by way of amusement; and, at last,
when the plashes come to be laid down and to grow, all is

Genkkal Instructions.

<:oon too sfouf for lior to attack ; and she must wriggle
tliiough as well as she can.

38. But, tlicre must be a fence of some sort before the
quick hedge become effectual. The kind must deijend on
local circumstances ; but, be it what it may, the best way
of securing the bank is to make it, if possible, in wettish
weather ; to make it slop pretty much, so as to prevent
crumbling down; to hang it with bushes all over; to peg
fhoxe bmhes ivell down ; and, at the time of making the
bank, to sow it very thickly with the sweepings of a mea-
dow-hay loft. These seeds, beaten in with the spade, will,
in almost any sort of ground, make more or less of a turf
in a short time. The bushes will keep off invaders ; and
thus the bank will become firm.

39. There are other sorts of plants fit for live hedges ;
but, though I shall speak of these by-and-by, the TVhite-
ihornh, and always must be, our great resource in this way.

OF THE TIMES OF THE YEAR, AND OF THE WEATHER,
FOR PLANTING TREES.

40. We must here, as in many other cases, yield obedience
to circumstances. If I could have my choice; if I could
have, in this respect, just what I pleased, I would trench
in Mareli, and plant in April. But this, except upon a very
small scale, can hardly ever be. It is always an advantage
to put seeds and plants mto fresh-moved ground. If of two
cabbage plants, you i)ut one into fresh-dug ground, and
the other into ground that has been dug a considerable
time, or only a week before, though the sj)Ots be within a
yard of each other, you will (the plants being alike a* to age,

Season and Weather.

size and condition) find the former take root and make pro-
gress several days sooner than the hitter. The reason of this
i«, that, whenever thegronnd is moved, a fermentation takes
place ; all its energies are put in motion ; and those ener-
gies operate on the plant. Seed, sown in fresh- moved
ground, will come «p much quicker, than if raked into ground
in any degree stale.

41. However, knowing what is hesi, we must, in the case
of extensive planting, content ourselves with coming as
near to it as circumstances will permit us. A planter has
not an army at his command : he must take the hands that
the neighbonrhood affords him, and must do his work when
lie can. But, the trenching ought to be done as near
to the time of planting ascircnmstances will admit; and if
you be compelled to trench at any considerable time before-
hand, you ought to dig all the ground again when you
plant.

42. If the weather be open and dry, you may plant at
any time between September and April; and even to the end
of April, if you take great care as to the manner of doing it.
Kvergi-eenSy however, should go out early in the autumn or
late in the spring ; and there are some evergreens that are
worth great attention.

43. Never plant in icet weather, nor when the ground is
icef, if you can possibly avoid it. The ground never ought
to be either moved, or walked upon, when it is wet at the
top. But, we are frequently compelled to do both, or to leave
our work MhoUy undone. It is a very great error to suppose,
that plants take root quicker for being planted in Avet wea-
ther. The contrary is the fact. One great thing is, to
make the earth that goes close to the roots ^?jc; and this

c

General Instuuctions.

you cannot do in wet weather. For this reason it is, that I
prefer March and April as the season for doing the work of
phintlng : but, be it done at what season of the year it may,
the ground ought not to he icet ; for then it falls in about the
roots in lumps, or in a sort of flakes, like mortar. It never
gets close and compact about the roots; and if you tread
it, it becomes, in dry weather, so hard as actually to pen up
the roots of the tree as if they were in a vice.

44. It is a great error to sujjpose that you gain time by
autunnial or winter planting. You do, indeed, see the buds
come out a little more early in the spring ; but it is the
effect at the end, and not at the beginning of the summer,
at which you ought to look. If you plant in the autumn,
or winter, the plants get blown about for several months,
and, in very wet weather, their stems work a sort of hole
round themselves; and thus the root itself is shaken; and
if left thus, they will, by March, be generally leaning on
one side, Avith the hole open on the other side; and wheii
the harsh winds of March come upon the long-time bat-
tered ground, it will present a surface nearly as hard as a
road. In sucli a case, the ground ought to be dug or
spudded up between the trees, in March or in April ; for
nothing can thrive well in ground thus baked, however
good the ground may be in its nature,

45. If you plant in the spring, you obviate all these evils.
The ground is dry; it receives no injury from trampling;
it lies light, and is ready to suck in the M'arm rains ; it is
easily kept clean all the summer, and you do the work in
half the time, and, of course, at half the expense. The
buds come out a little later, as I said before; but they come
out stronger. ^I'lie roots have warm ground to go off in ;
they all strike at once, and do not die in part, as those of

Season and Weather.

autumn or winter planted trees frequently do j and if part
of the roots of a tree die, the tree very rarely thrives.

46. There is, as to the seasons and weather, some differ-
ences, which arise from the difference in the sort of trees;
hut these, where they are of importance, will be men-
tioned in the proper place. One general rule, however, is,
that trees should not be moved, and of course, not planted,
in time o^ frost. Frost dries the roots; and, if they be-
come very dry, they die. However, here also something
depends on the sort of tree, and on the treatment at the
time of planting; and, I ought to add, that I have proved
by experience, that a little frost will not Mil trees in their
removal, whether they be large or small. In 1805, w ishing
to have a high sa-een at once, I bought, in a nursery at
Brompton, some trees from twelve to twenty feet high, and
carried them down to Botley. They were Limes, Planes,
and Sycamores. They w-ere put on an open wagonj not co-
vered with any thing ; I could not attend to the matter in
person; they were treated as unceremoniously as any equal
number of faggots ever were ; it was in December ; a sharp
frost came on the first evening of the journey; the Avagon
stood out of doors all night at Farnham ; it reached Botley
the next night; it stood out all night again, the frost still
remaining; next day the trees were put on the ground, and
their roots were covered with straw: there the trees now
are, from forty to fifty feet high, and some of them, I ima-
gine, nearly as big round as my body. This is, however,
very adventurous work, and what no one ought to think of
imitating. These trees M-ere planted against a icall, in a
very sheltered situation ; the ground, which was good and
moist in its natiu'e, had been trenched four feet deep, and
had been well manured from top to bottom ; I pnnied the
roots with tlie greatest care ; soaked them in water twelve

c 2

Cjeneral Instructions.

hours; sifted the mould into the holes about the roots;
pressed the mould about the roots with men's hands ; and,
hnally, covered the top of the ground over with sliort litter
from the stable, which I kept there throughout the winter,
and laid on a fresh bed of it for the summer. With all
these pains, these trees are now just about the height of
some ash, standing very near them, the seed of which /
saved that very year ! If I had planted trees two feet higli,
they would have hidden the wall sooner and more effec-
tually, and would have been ten feet higher.

47. In 1S24, 1 took up many thousands of Locusts, on the
15th of March, in a field at Worth, in Sussex; they were
going into Wiltshire in a wagon; the wagon (coming for
them) was stopped on the way by snov) ; the trees were
taken up on a dry frosty day ; they were tied up in bundles,
with withes, like faggots ; some fern was put into the bot-
tom of the wagon; nothing was put round the roots of the
trees; they made a large and high load, just like a load of
faggots ; the wagon was three days and niglits on the jour-
ney back ; part of the trees were taken out, on the road,
and left to be taken into Berkshire: I understand that they
have all thriven exceedingly, and make very fine planta-
tions. But, while I relate these things, I by no means
recommend this hazardous work ; for, though trees may be
able to stand it, when great care is taken about the planting,
and when the ground is very good, such treatment might
nearly kill them, under difterent circumstances.

OF THE AGE AND SIZE OF THE PLANTS, AND OF PREPARING
THEIR ROOTS FOR PLANTING.

4S. Though I have, in paragraph 46, given an account
of what may fairly enough be called successful planting of

Age, Size, Roots.

old and large trees, no man in his sober senses would think
of doing such a thing upon a large scale, and especially for
2)roJit. People who are in haste to get trees round, or near,
a house, or round a domestic enclosure, plant large trees
for the purpose ; but, if they happen to plant small ones at
the same time, they soon discover that the large ones are
of no use. There is a very happy illustration of this, on the
side of the great western road, on the left, going up the
hill from Virginia Water towards Bagshot, in a plantation,
made about twelve years ago. The ground was, I think,
trenched, but, in all probability, not Ixeepbig the top soil at
top, though the nature of the ground demanded it. There
was a promiscuous mixture of lirs and deciduous trees of a
proper enough age and size ; and, though the latter have
never been cut down and otherwi-e properly managed,
tliese young trees make, all together, a shoic of wood ; they
hide a six-feet paling from within, and you see some of their
tops over it from without. But, at the same time that the
young trees were plantetl, there were planted along the
middle of the strip, or belt, a row o( large trees. They were
about ten or twelve feet high, when the plantation was
made, and there might be about a hundred of them in all:
They were evidently intended to be a magnificent row of
trees, to be seen from the mansion, which is about half a
mile back. Alas ! they have, according to the vulgar saying,
'' grown like a cow's tail " : they have literally grown
downwards, till there is, I think, only tn:o of them to he seen.
The ground is of the eleventh sort, mentioned in paragraph
9. Very poor; it lies high; the spot is bleak. When the
trees were planted, they were propped up by, and tied to,
stakes. The wind and wet soon destroyed these j)rotectors.
The trees, in great part, died outright; and the whole of
those that did not die, do not now make, all put together,
a ma?s of wood. twig> and leaves, equal to that which is

General Instructions.

contained in one s'mgle loaist tree (tbree or four feet liigh at
the same time of planting), growing on tlic side of the
porter's lodge on the very same spot.

49. If this gentleman had planted all young trees; if he
had had all the deciduous trees of the same sort, age, and
size ; if he had cut them down and pruned them as here-
after to be mentioned, he would now, notwithstanding the
poorness of the ground, have had a plantation twenty feet
high and of uniform height ; and he would not have had
the mortification to sec his row of large trees disappear one
at a time, and serving no other purpose (not, indeed, an
unuseful one,) than that of teaching him not to expend his
money in the like way again.

50. Well; but M'hy, then, do ni(rserj,ne)i, who must
understand this matter so well, keep such large trees in
their nurseries ? Simply because they know, from expe-
rience, that there are people who will bui/ them ; and it is
their business not to make plantations flourish, but to sell
trees. You never find one of them to recommend large
trees; I mean no one of any reputation. If they do sin a
little too much in this way, it is in the article of fruit trees ;
and they are not so much to blame even here ; for people
wiU have the large trees : they will stick up an orchard at
once : they will not believe, that a little young twig of a
tree will bring them, at the end of seven years, forty times
as many apples as a tree which has already got a stem as
big as their wrist, and a fine branching head. They will
not believe this ; and, therefore, the nurserymen are not to
blame.

51. The reason why large trees ought not to be planted
is, that, at the end of five or six years, they, if they succeed.

Ag£, Size, Roots.

are not so large as those which are j)Ianted when two or
three feet high. This reason is quite enough. There needs
no other J and the fact may be proved by tliousands of
instances. But, if any additional reason were wanting,
there is the shape of the tree, and its ultimate nze. Wlien
trees are i)huited large, they are usually naked at bottom.
They have stood crowded in the nursery, and have no
branches, except near the top. In short, they are top-lieaiy
things, with trunk and root disproportioncd to their Iieight;
and, to plant them is to provide yourself, at great expense,
with a lasting store of mortification.

.52. Tlie cnuse why large trees suffer so much from being
n)oved, and that small ones do not, is, that, in the former
case, the roots, in proportion to the size of the tree, be-
come so much more curtailed, than they do in the latter
case. When a tree is moved, it must, however small it may
be, lose a considerable jiart of its roots ; and, observe, there
is not one particle more of root than is demanded by the
stem and the branches. A tree which is from 2 to 4 feet
high will have roots, if traced to their utmost extent, 4
or 5 feet long. How long, then, must those be of a tree
which is from 10 to 12 or 14 feet high ! And what a
violence is committed in the removal of such a tree ! If you
could, in any case, take up a tree with every one of its
roots unbroken, and to its utmost fibre, you must shorten
the roots ; for, who could make a place to plant a tree with
roots five, six, or twelve feet long ? Besides, the small hairy
fibres die, upon the tree being moved : they never strike
again. So that here is, in spite of all the pains that you
can take, a great suspension of supply to the stem of tiie
tree. In short, you are obliged to cut off the roots to a
certain extent, and to take away all the fibres. The roots
of a small tree may (as we shall see under the next head)

General Ixstrlxtions.

be left from 2 to 6 inches long ; and ycu cannot very well
leave those of a tMelve feet tree more than two feet long,
though, perhaps, they reached fourteen feet in the ground.
It is manifestly impossible, that, with such a remnant of
root, the trunk and branches can be sufliciently suj)plic(!.

53. In consequence of this want of supply to the trunk
and branches, the tree remains in a sort of stagnant state.
The bark, for want of a sufficient flowing up of sap, be-
comes dung to the wood, which gardeners call being hide
hound. Buds may come out the first summer, in all the
branches; but these buds are weak; they do not become
shoots; the leaves are all smaller than they ought to be,
and do not properly perform their functions; they are not
of the right colour; all has a sickly appearance ; and a look
at the tree in summer, tells you what you have to expect
the next year. The spring discovers to you a part of the
smaller branches dead at their tops, some of them dead alto-
gether; you cut these out to get rid of the eye-sore; and
thus a part of your tree has disappeared ; it already bears
no resemblance to that beautiful and gay and flourishing
thing that it was, when you fell in love with it in the nur-
seryman's ground; and you arc mucli about in the state of
feeling of the love-sick girl, in Mr. Monk Lewis's pretty
song, when she saw her " gallant and jolly tar" come home
to her longing arms, with " the loss of a leg and an arm
and an eye." It is, it must be confessed, pretty tough con-
stancy, that can hold its own after the roses and lilies and
dimples have had a good digging, or ploughing, of the
small-pox, which has, by May of doing the work well,
closed up one eye, or turned it inside out. Yet (to the
honour of human nature I say it), 1 can even believe in the
possibility of sentiment as sublime as this, when I behold
the fond planter of large tree? retaining all his aOectiou

Agk, SjzKj Roots.

for them, wliil<3 they are yearly (liniinishiiig in size and in-
creasing in ugliness.

54. You may move some sorts of trees, with a chance of
success, when at a greater age and size, tJian you can, Avith
such chance, move others; and there may be, now and then,
a case, wliere it is necessary to plant hu'ge trees. When
this is dune, the greatest possible care should be taken not
to bruize any part of the roots that are to remain. When a
tree ten feet high is taken up, you ought to begin by dig-
ging out the earth prelty deeply, at six or seven feet from
it; and, as you approach the stem, to take special care not
to tear or bruise the roots. TJie whole of the roots, as far as
you have been able to get them out of the ground, should
be kept on till you get the tree to the spot where it is to
stand. Then, the hole being ready, you should, with a
knife, kept coustantly sharp, prune the roots, first taking out
quite clean all the hairy fibres: then you shorten the main
roots to about two feet long (if the tree be twelve or four-
ten feet high) ; then shorten the side roots that come out
of these, to four or six inches. Cut with a very sharp knife.
It will, however good it may be, soon grow dull when
employed on roots. But you must cut smooth, and not
tear, and not leave, at yo\u' cut, any bark of the root uncut
Off, any more than you would leave the bark uncut ofT
when you prune a shoot or a branch above ground ; foi-, if
you do not cut clean, the amputated roct, like ;'.n ampu-
tated branch, becomes diseased, and thus injures the tree.
The roots of such large trees should be kept out of ground
as short a time as possible; and by no means be exposed
to the sun, or air, one moment longer than is absolutely
necessary. If, by any accident, they should become dry^
they should be laid in pond or rain water 10 or 12 hours
before the operation of planting takes place. This softens

General Instructions.

tlie bark of the roots, and restores it to something like the
state in which it was when in the ground, before the tree
Avas moved. I suall, by-and-by, speak about the planting
of small trees 3 but, as I do not wish to return to these
large trees again, I will here add, that, before you [)ut the
tree in the ground, it is a good way to dip the roots in mud
(natural or made), which will cling round the bark ; for one
of the most essential things is, to make the earth touch closely
every part of the bark of the roots, which it does not do,
unless you take very great pains, first to make it Jine, and
next to press it closely, as you put it in. You should, as
you are putting in the earth, lift the tree a little, and jog it
up and down, that the earth may go into all the cavities,
and closely touch the root in every part. Then, when all
the roots are thus covered and surrounded with the earth,
you may fill in the top with the spade, and tread it a little,
beginning to tread at the outside of the hole, and ending at
the stem of the tree. It is quite useless to tread at the top,
unless you first take care of the bottom. Even with all
these pains, a large tree will, at the end of five or six years,
be overtaken by a small one; but without these j)ain!i, tjie
large one will, nine times out often, produce nothing but
mortification.

55. In the case of plantations of any extent, no man,
liowever, thinks of large trees ; and now I am to speak of
the age and size, and of the pruning of the roots of the
smaller ones; but, there is one particular case, in which,
even if upon a large scale, it is absolutely necessary to plant
large trees; that is to say, if you plant any at all. I allude
to unenclosed lands, where the herbage belong to many
persons, and where the timber and the right to plant trees
belong to one; and this is an important matter, too, because
it relates chiefly to the rearing of oaks.

i^GB, Size, Roots.

56. In such cases, the trees are, according to a tashio!»
long in use, taken up when from twelve to eighteen feet
high, and when as big round at the bottom as tlie wrist of
a man si\' feet high. 1 am, at present, speaking of oaks
only. The planter selects straight young oaks, which have
come up from seed, in the woods, where they stand too thick:
and here is a fatal error to begin with. This excess of plants
would be a very good reason for cutting the superfluous
trees down, and making poles, stakes, or even faggots with
them ; but, the very worst reason in the world for choosing
them as plants. If you mean for any plants, even those of
the cabbage, to be fit for tratisplanting, never let them
iffmid thick in the seed-bed, or on any sjjot to which you
have removed them from tlie seed-bed. The grounds of
this precept are knov.n to every man and every woman,
who has a garden and a porridge-pot. By remaining in
this crowded state, all plants, of every description, become
weak in the stem, or stalk, and top-heavy. They are said
to draw each other xip; that is to say, they must, if they
gro\v at all, push upwards. While standing thus crowded,
they hold one another up; but, if you thin them very
much, all at once, those that remain will lop, and indeed,
their heads will, when the leaves are on, frequently bend
down nearly to the ground; proofs enough of which you
will see in any oak wood, which has underwood beneath,
and in which young oaks have been left, after the under-
wood (ten or twelve years old) has been cut down. The
young oaks grow up like the shoots of the underwood : it
is right that the underwood should be crowded : it is not to
produce p/ajifc and beams: it is to produce poles and stakes
and broom and hoe-handles and hoops and rods.

57. Besides this drawing up, and its consequent weak-
ness, there is the cold to be guarded against. The oak

General Instritctioxs-.

is, as a vegetable, a tender thing. The frost affects it,
M'hen it affects hardly any other forest-tree. Its spring-
shoots arc frequently killed by the frost, when the Ash,
the Beech, the Elm, and other trees, remain wholly un-
affected by it. But the effect of cold upon oaks must be
obvious t(3 every man wlio has seen a thick oak wood cut
down, leaving, here and there, a tree which has been
thought too small for cutting. These trees never thrive
more. They stand " sliumecl," as the woodmen very pro-
perly call it. They do not actually die; but they never
thrive more. What, then, must be the inevitable effect of
such a change of climate as that Mhich is experienced by
the yonng oak which is taken out of a coi)pice to be planted
in an open common ? A coppice is alicaxjs warm. In the
coldest (hiys that \vc know, w hen hail and tlcet cut your face,
and when you are really pinched with the cold, go into a
coppice, and you are warm. In the very hardest frosts, the
ground is seldom frozen in, or near, the middle of a large
and well-set coppice of six year's growth, or upwards.
Even in that bleak and terribly cold country. New Bruns-
wick, where the frost comes about the 7ih of November,
freezes the river St. John (a mile across) over in one night,
so that men walk across in the morning ; where, in
the open lands, the frost goes four feet down into the
solid ground; even in that country, if you, in the very
coldest weather, when, in the open air, you dare not
venture ien i/ards without protecting your hands and face
with fur; even there and then, if you go half a mile into
the woods, you arc in a mild and pleasant climate. I have,
scores of times, gone to the edge of the woods, wrapped
up in flannels and blankets and fnrs, and, when I got in,
reduced my dress very nearly to an English one, and set
to squirrel-hunting, even with my gloves off".

Age, Size, Roots.

58. Ti'ees have their feelings too ; and, what must ine-
vitably be the consequence of taking a young oak from a
warm coppice, and planting it on a naked common ? Plant-
ations in these situations are useful, ornamental, and, there-
fore, highly praiseworthy. But, then, the trees should be
raised for the purpose ; raised and managed with a view to
their destination. The acorns should be sown (as hereafter
directed), the young trees should be moved twice at least;
and they should, at the last removal, be placed at a good
distance from each other ; and kept pruned up to a single
stem to the height of eight or ten feet, that being necessary
in this sort of planting, where the boughs must be out of the
reach even of a house.

59. The mode of planting is this : the turf is taken from
the surface of a circle about six feet over, and it ought to
be eight, at least. The turf is laid on one side for the
present. Then a hole is trenched, three or four feet deep ;
and here the top mould ought to be kept at the top. Then
the tree, with its roots ready pruned, is planted, leaving the
bottom of the stem a foot above the level of this trenched
ground. Then you begin to build, with the turf, a hank
round the hole. Then you take off the turf about fifteen
inches wide round the outside of the bank. Then dig up
the mould that lies under this turf,. and put it into the sort
of bowl that you are forming with your turf. This will,
together with the turf just taken off, fill the earth up round
the stem of the tree to six or eight inches or a foot (accord-
ing to the height of the tree) higher than the bottom of that
stem; that is to say, the tree will stand so much deeper in
the ground than it stood before. This last is contrary to all
ordinary rules ; but we are here speaking of no ordinary case.
This is not merely planting trees, hulfenchig them at the
same time and by the same act, Wooden guards round

Gkneral Instructions.

the trees is out of the question. The cost would he a great
deal more than the plantation could ever hring". In two
years they nmst boil the pot, or bake the bread of somebody :
the temptation would be absolutely irresistible. And yet,
the trees must be protected from tjie croj)pings and the rub-
bings of cattle, sheep and pigs. This is pretty eftectually done
by a mound of eight feet base and three feet top, and
three feet in height; which soon gets covered witli grass;
on which cattle cannot stand ; upon which sheep and pigs
will not get, because they see nothing to be gained by it;
and, if, tempted by the grass, they do jump up, the situa-
tion is too cramped for them to remain there for any other
purpose than that of eating the grass, which will, in all pro-
bability, have been eaten for them by the larger cattle ; for
they, standing on the level ground, can do this with (as
the newspaper fellows say of the loan-jobbers) " great ad-
vantage to themselves and to the public also."

60. But, this planting should be done well. The earth,
as far as it touches the roots, should be made very Jine ; and
it shoulii be placed about the roots, in the manner which
I have minutely described in paragraph 54. There is no
difficulty in taking a cinder-sieve to the spot. To sift the
earth in about the roots, till they be all covered closely, is
attended with very little cost; and, if a water-butt were
necessary to the obtaining of mud, or grout, to dip the
roots in, previously to planting, that would not cost much.
And, I beg the planter, I do implore him, to bear in mind,
tliat only sixpence, or even threepence, a tree, additional ex-
pense, may wrdVe years of dilFerence, nay, much more than
/ifl/f ditference, in the growth of the plantation.

Gl. For want of the precautions here mentioned, the
planter, at the end of two or three years, sees the heads of

AgEj Size, Roots.

his trees about half the size that they were of when planted;
he sees many of them dead ; and, at the very best, he sees
them with dead branches, dead stumps, and with the means
uf producing rottenness of trunk already prepared. Now,
a great deal of this loss and this great mortification would
be obviated by the additional expense of sixpence a tree at
the time of planting. I have shown before, in paragraph 56,
the cause of the general failure of large trees, and of their
necessary slowness of growth, take what pains you will, and
however favourable your soil and situation. But here is a
case of necessity : you must, in this case, have large trees,
or no trees at all ; and it is desirable to have the trees; they
are an ornament, an useful shade, a great beauty, and a great
benefit, private and public, and the planting of them are
amongst the noblest acts of noble-minded men.

62. The great difficulty is, to obtain, at first, for the
trunk and branches, a sufficient supply of sap from a root
so greatly diminished. You cannot do this in any case ; not
even in that of the youngest trees, no, nor even in a cab-
bage or a Swedish turnip plant. All the outside leaves of
these latter die, in a few days, and new ones, fed by the new
roots, supply their place. So that, in the case of a large
tree, you ought to be content if it barely live the first year
out, take whatever pains you may. I am, when speaking,
which I shall do very minutely, of planting and managing
young trees, to speak of cutting them down, after planting.
But, as I, as I observed before, wish not to return to large trees
again, I shall observe here, that the large trees, thus planted,
might be cut off, near their tops, at the time of planting.
When large apple trees are transplanted from the nurseries
into orchards or gardens, their branches, of which they
usually have several, are always cut off to within six or eight
inches of the stem. The gardeners know well that they

General Instructions.

must do tliis, or that the trees will never tlirow out fresh
and growhig shoots. And if this be the case with all fruit
tree?, why not Avith forest trees ? The head is left un-
pruned, in the latter case, only because tlie timber-grower
is not so anxious about success as the fruit-grower; and
this arises from the period of expected profit being nearer
at hand in the latter, than it is in the former.

63. I liave stated, that tlic objections to autumnal and
winter phtnting, are, that the winds blow the trees about
before they can take root, and that the rains batter the ground
down, and make it, before summer, as hard as a roatl. Now,
these objections do not aj)ply in this case; for the wind can
have no power on a stout and well-fixed stem, which has
no branches of any length, and rains can do no harm here,
where the surface of the mound is never to be moved again.
In this case, therefore, autumnal planting is best; because
the banks of the mounds get solid before the dry weather
comes on. You will have more difficulty in getting fine earth
about the roots; but that forms so small a part of the work,
when the trees arc comparatively so few in number, that
it is hardly worth mentioning, Avhcn opposed to the other
weighty considerations.

64. Though 1 have spoken of Oah only being planted hi
this way, trees of any sort may, and almost any sort with a
better chance of success as to the grou-lJi. Asm and Bkech, iu
particular, and especially when the bottom soil is of chalk;
and Ehrij when it is of gravel or sand or sand-stone. If of
stiff clay. Oak will do best. Such a plantation does not
dhnhmli the qnaniitij of the herbage. As much of it, if not
more, will grow on the sides and on the top of the mound,
as grew before on the spot where the tree has been planted.
And, would it not be better for the Parliament to pass an

Agk, Size, Roots.

act to compel the Bishop op Winchester, for instance,
to plant a certain number of Oak Trees, in this manner,
on the spot called Waltham Chase, than to permit him and
his copyhold tenants to enclose this forest, to appropriate
the lands, and to prevent the spot from being a forest for
ever ? During the last session of Parliament, an Act ac-
tually passed the House of Commons, to Avarrant this latter
proceeding, which would have been one of the most odious
things ever done in this world. To show what land this is
for the gi-owing of Oak Timber, I need only mention, that,
a little more than twenty years ago, the late Bishop, exer-
cising a right given him by a very old Act of Parliament,
enclosed about twenty acres of the land, for the purpose of
keeping out the common cattle, and thereby encouraging
the growth of timber. I remember when these enclosures
were made. The law allows them to remain enclosures
for only twenty years; and about four years ago they were
thrown open. I saw the enclosures made : the ground was
bare, except that it had, here and there, a few bushes or
bunches of heath upon it. I saw the spot in the fall of
the year 1826, and it was covered with fine young Oak
Trees, some of them more than twenty feet high, and many
of them with trunks more than two feet round at the base.
This spot is within about sixteen miles of the Dock-yard at
Portsmouth. A turnpike-road goes through the forest to
the e(\ge of the harbour at Portsmouth ; and yet the House
of Commons actually passed a law to allow the Bishop of
Winchester and his copyhold tenants, totally to destroy
this forest. The timber of this forest is the property of the
See of Winchester ; so that the Bishop (who is since dead)
would have stripped the See of this source of riches for
ever ; for he would have cut down all the timber, young
as M'ell as old, now standing in the forest ; the crown would
have had this part of the things in its gift alienated from it

D

General Instructions.

for ever ; and, into the bargain, more tlian a thousand poor
people would have been driven from the skirts of the
forest, to seek shelter in the filthy outskirts of towns and
villages. I counted, as I came over the flat of the forest,
five hundred and seventy- two horses, cows, heifers, and
pigs, every one of which was, I dare say, the property of
some cottager. The ruin would have been of a character
and extent most dreadful. I dare say that more than a
thousand geese are reared upon the land of this forest : all
this was to have been swept away j this most fertile garden
for Oak Timber was to have been destroyed ; saplings as
well as timber trees were to be felled ; and the Crown was
to have a precious part of its rights alienated for ever; and
all this to gratify the greedy desires of a set of stupid men,
who could not see with patience the poor have the benefit
of even these blades of grass; and Avho conceived the
brilliant idea of growing immense crops of corn upon a
bed of sheer clay, in which Oak trees thrive most admira-
bly, but which will not bear one bushel of wheat, until, in
some shape or another, it has first swallowed up the value
of two bushels. To the great honour of the House of
Lords, they threw out the Bill, for which they deserved
the thanks of every man of sense, and they have already
received the blessings of the numerous cottagers, whom
their justice and wisdom saved from utter ruin.

65. After this digression, for which, I trust, no great
apology will be required, I return to the subject of para-
graph 55, to which the reader will, for a moment, have
the goodness to turn back ; I there was beginning to
give instructions, relative to the age and size, and to the
pruning of the roots, of smaller trees. The age and the
size may be different in different sorts of trees; and,
as this matter will be spoken of under the head of each

Age, Size, Roots.

tree respectively, I have here to olfer none but general
observations.

06. The trees shonki be as young, generally speaking, as
the nature of them will permit. In some cases, and, indeed,
in most cases, they should be trees that have been once re-
moved; that is to say, that have been first raised in a seed
bed ; and then put into a nursery, or plantation, in rows
pretty close together, where they may stand for one, two,
or three years, according to the nature of the plant, and
according to its quickness or slowness in point of growth.
The method of performing this work, is as follows : dig up
the seedling trees in the month of November, or even in
October, and, having tipped their roots with a sharp knife,
plant them in rows about a foot or fifteen inches apart, and
fasten them well in the ground. Some trees may stand
closer to each other than others, in the row; but, in general,
the distance of six inches, from tree to tree, mjiy be enough.
In this nursery, they will get new roots, which will come
out side-ways, and will form what is called a bushy or
shaggy root, and, in most cases, they will grow with greater
certainty, and make greater progress in plantations, than
when planted out at once from the seed-bed, the excep-
tions to which rule, will be mentioned under the heads of
the several trees.

67. Almost every seedling tree, of great height, has a
tap root, and, some trees, of very great length. I have
seen a Hickory seedling, the plant itself not being more
than six inches long, and the root more than four feet.
Several trees make a tap root of two feet long the first
year. These tap roots cannot be preserved in transplant-
ing; and, if they were put into the ground, at full length,
with an iron bar, they would be sure to die all the way

d2

General Instructions.

nearly up to the top. Tiiesc tap roots must, therefore, be
cut off to within three or four or five inches of the plant;
and then the part that is left, will throw out side roots ;
and the tree will remove well into plantations. All trees,
however, have not such tap roots ; the Tulip tree, for in-
stance, and trees of low stature, very seldom have them.
Some trees, as will hereafter be mentioned, may go at once
out of the seed bed into plantations, and this is particu-
larly the case with the Loaist Tree, which has a fleshy root,
and takes readily when transplanted.

68. I have now to speak of the manner of taking trees
up in the nursery for planting out ; of packing them for
conveyance from one place to another, of keeping them
waiting for the act of planting ; and of pruning their roots
previous to planting. As to the first of these, the trees
should be taken up with great care ; the earth should be
dug away deeply on the sides of them ; and they should be
taken out of the ground with their roots as whole as j)os-
sible, and with very little or no pulling ; for, though a con-
siderable part of the lower ends of the roots must be cut
off, no part of them ought to be torn, for the tearing may
extend nearly up to the plant ; and the consequences of a
broken or torn root, are precisely similar to those of a
broken or torn branch. A rotting takes place to some
extent at least, and the tree will, in consequence of such
rotting, not thrive nearly so well.

69. If trees be to be sent from one place to another, they
ought, if the distance be such as to make it necessary for
them to be several days out of the ground, to be packed
up in the following manner. First, lay a mat or cloth
upon the ground; lay some straw upon that, to the thick-
ness of four or five inches; then lay upon the straw as

Age, Size, Root?.

many of the trees, as the mat will conveniently contain ;
then cover the trees with a similar thickness of straw,
taking more care ahout the root than about the stem ; and
then draw the sides and the ends of the mat over, bringing
every part together with a very strong hand, and sew the
package up, with twine or some other thing sufficiently
strong. They should not be put together in this way, espe-
cially for a long journey, if they be wet. They should not
be dry; but have merely the moisture which they would
have, if taken out of the ground in dry weather; that is
to say, weather dry over head ; for really dry weather is not
to be expected at such season of the year.

70. If a considerable plantation be about to be made, and
especially if the trees be to be sorted in point of size, it
would be necessary to take up the whole, before you begin
to plant. As fast as they are taken up and sorted, they
should, if the plantation is to take place near the spot where
the trees have been growing in the nursery, be what is
called laid by the heels ; that is to say, a small trench is
made of the length required, or of a certain length accord-
ing to the shape of the ground where the Avork is to be
found, which trench is made in this manner. You dig out
a spit or couple of spits with a spade, and lay the earth
upon the undigged ground before you. Then, smooth this
little bank, and smooth also the rough ground, at the bot-
tom of the trench. When this is done, lay the trees along
this little bank, not too thickly, for, if laid in a heap, the
roots will mould, and if they mould, they are in great danger
of never growing afterwards. If they be roots of a fleshy
rooted tree, they will, if heaped much together, rot in a
short space of time. They may touch one another, and
even lie two or three deep ; but, if the earth do not touch
the whole of the roots, they are very apt to contract mould.

General iNSTRficxioNS.

if the ground be wet. When you have laid the trees along
this little bank, you cover the roots by digging another spit
or two of ground, and thereby making a second little bank,
for another parcel of the trees, to be laid along in the same
manner. A third little bank is made in the same way j
and thus you go on until you have got the whole of your
plants laid by the heels, in which state ihey will remain in
])erfcct safety, if it should be necessary, from the month of
October vuitil the month of April. There are many advan-
tages attending this mode of proceeding : you can sort your
trees before you begin to plant 5 you can count them 3 you
can lay them in by tens, by himdreds, or by thousands ; you
sec what you have got; they are always ready, when you
are ready for the work of planting: whereas, if you leave
them in the nursery till the very moment you want them to
plant out into plantations, you have two great works to do
at one and the same time ; you do not know what number
you have ; and there are all sorts of uncertainties and delays.

71. The next thing is to give directions for the pruning
of the roots; and, as this is a work absolutely necessary to
be performed, and of very great importance, I shall endea-
vour to make my instructions on this head as plain as pos-
sible. I spoke before, in paragraph 54, about pruning the
roots of some trees, and observed, that roots are distin-
guished, some by the name of roots, and others by the
name of fibres. The fibres of trees, when once taken out
of the ground, never grow again, but the tree, if planted
with the fibres left on the roots, very often receives great
injury from the moulding of the fibres. The fibres, there-
fore, should be all taken out clean with a sharp knife. This
is a work of great trouble, and may be dispensed with in
Forest trees in general, but it were better if it were per-
formed as to all trees. The roots are more substantial

Agk, Size, Roots.

things ; and when the tree begins to grow again, new roots
come out of those which you leave when yon transplant it.
On tlic following page, I have given a Drawing of a young
Apple Tree, having two shoots, and about to be planted
again, after having been taken up. Fig. 1. represents the
tree with all its roots and fibres, just as it came out of the
ground. Fig. 2. represents the tree with its roots shortened.
You will perceive, that there are no little hairy fibres left,
and that the roots are shortened in proportion to their size.
The growth will begin by new roots starting out of these
shortened ones; and these new roots will send out fresh
fibres. This tree is pruned above, as well as below, but of
that 1 shall speak more by and by.

72. Great care must be taken not to tear or bruise the
parts of the roots which are left ; and they must always be
cut with a knife that is very sharp, and that leaves nothing
like a tear or any thing rough in the bark of the root, at the
point where you cut it off. It is a good way, and a very
good way, to prune the roots of all your trees, before you
lay them by the heels; because, they are then ready at any
moment, when your plantation ground may be fit, and when
the weather may serve for the work of planting. The danger
is also less of mould; because it is the fibres that mould most,
by intercepting the earth, and preventing it from touching
every part. This work of root-pruning may, too, be done
under cover, in wet weather, which will get every thing
forward against the fine weather come; for the act of plant-
ing does not require more time, and not more care, than
the act of pruning the roots.

73. If the tree, in the Plate just mentioned, were to be
planted with all its roots and fibres, just as it came out of
the ground, the fibres would all die, a great part of the

General Instructions.

Age, Size, Roots.

roots would die ; and if the tree itself did not die, it would
certainly never thrive. You ought to cut off no root quite
close to the stem ; hut leave it to a length proportioned to
its size, a specimen of which is pretty accurately given in
the Plate. Once more let me impress upon the reader, the
necessity of using a knife perfectly sharp, which is more
difficult to be provided for in the case of roots, than in the
case of branches or twigs. The root is a soft and sort of
woolly substance compared to the wood of the tree ; and
if the knife be not sharp, it will leave part of the bark of
the root in shape of a sort of ragged fringe coming out
beyond the cut. This ragged bark is sure to rot, and
it communicates rottenness, very frequently, to a great
part of the root, and with a rotten root a tree will not
thrive well.

74. As to the pruning of the heada of the trees, I shall
speak of that in my observations that will come under the
alphabetical head ', and, now, having got the young trees
ready for planting, all that remains to be done, under this
head of General Instructions, is to speak of the manner
of performing the work of planting. I have already
spoken of the sorts of ground in which to plant Timber
Trees and Underwood; of the method of preparing the
ground for planting, and of the expense; of fencing the
ground; of the times of the year, and of the weather for
planting ; of the age and size of the plants, and of pre-
paring the roots for planting. All that remains, therefore,
is, to speak, under this General Head, of the act or work
of planting, and of the cultivation after j)lanf.iug.

General Instructions.

OF THE METHOD OF PERFORMING THE WORK OF
PLANTING.

75. It was before observed that the roots should be exposed
to the open ah*, especially in dry cold weather, or dry hot
Aveather, but for as short a time as possible. Therefore, M'heu
you take them to tlie ground, where they are to be planted,
they should be kept covered over with mats or cloths, or
straw, or something that will keep their roots from the
W'ind and sun. Of the distances at which trees ought to be
planted, I shall speak under the names of the trees respec-
tively; but all trees must have their roots i)ut into the
ground; and, to do this well, there is but one manner.
I have before spoken, a little, of the proper Avcather for
planting; and have said, that it is a great mistake to sup-
pose that w^et weather is the best. I have shewn, in my
Year's Residence in America, that dry weather is the best
for the transplanting even of turnips and cabbages. It is
the same with regard to trees, and the reasons will become
manifest in a moment. In dry weather; that is to say,
when the ground is not soaked with wet, the earth is fine,
or may be broken into that state ; and the most important
thing of all is that the earth should touch closely to every
part of the roots of the new-planted tree; and this it cannot
do, if it be in lumps, or if it be wet. There will be, in
such cases, hollow places amongst the roots ; and a root
will mould and finally rot if not touched closely by the earth.
Mice and other vermin will also get into the cavities; and
I have known a considerable part of a young orchard de-
stroyed by such means. Therefore, the best weather is that
which will enable you to put fine earth in about the roots.
Let us suppose a little tree, like that which is represented
in the plate, ready pruned for planting. The reader must

Work ot? Pt anting.

perceive, that the earth must be very fine to go in between
the roots, the spaces between some of which are very small.
To throw into the hole rough lumpy earth upon the roots
of such a tree is not only not to do it justice, but it is to
obtain almost an assurance of its failure.

76. Therefore, when you have made your hole, which
ought always to be twice as wide in every direction as the
extreme width of the mass of roots, one man ought to liold
the tree erect in the hole, the bottom ground of which
ought to be well and finely broken with a spade, v/hilc
another man ought to break the ground just taken out of
the hole, so as to make it very fine, and to let it fall from
his spade ia that fine state down upon the roots, while the
other man ought to keep shaking the tree up and down,
that the fine earth may run into and fill up all the cavities.
When the hole is pretty nearly filled in this way, the earth
should be pressed gently with the foot, beginning, not close
to the stem of the tree, but round the outside of the hole,
and the pressure should be less and less violent as you
approach the stem of the tree. When this is done, the tree
is safely planted ; and you may then fill up the hole with
the remainder of the earth, which was taken out of it,
forming, at the close, a sort of little dish a foot or fifteen
inches in diameter round about the tree, making the earth
fine at the top of this dish, and taking particular pains to
make the eartli smooth, and to make it very close and
compact round the stem of the tree. Then, the wet weather
cannot come too soon ; but, if it should not come for
months, even in March, April and ]May, the tree is safe :
the air, dry and piercing as it may be, and the sun, scorch-
ing as it may happen to be, will do no injury to roots pro-
tected h\ finely broken earth, which leaves no hollows for
it to find its way through. Mr. Tull proved, by numerous

General Instructions.

experiments, that the way to keep ground moist was to
make \tfine; and Mr. Curwen proved, that, in the same
field, there was dew where he had made the earth ^ne,
and no dew where he had not done it.

'J'J. In paragraph 54, I spoke of the manner of planting
large trees, and recommended the dipping of the roots,
especially if in dry weather, in mud, either natural or made,
just before planting. I have always planted in April, if
I could ; but sometimes in May ; because I prefer the dry
and fine earth to all other things. But, in really hot
weather, such as we sometimes have in those months,
I have what they call grouted the trees, which word grouted
comes from the word grout, and that, certainly, from the
Saxon Avord grut, -which means wet dirt. The grout is
made by taking some water to the plantation ground,
putting it into a large tub, Hinging some earth into the tub,
and stirring it up till it form a sort of thick mud. The
roots of the trees are dipped into this just before they are
planted. A little of the nuid adheres to them ; but the
great advantage is, that the fine earth, which in such
weather is pretty dry, clings at once closely about every
root J sticks to all and every part of it; and, if this pre-
caution be taken, and the rest of the work be well performed,
no man need fear to plant a young tree in any part of the
month of May, except, indeed, the very hard and naked
rooted trees, such as the Oak and the Hickory. I should
not be at all afraid to make a plantation of Locust or Ash
in this way at any time before Midsummer.

78. One great advantage of planting in dry weather is,
that you do not batter the ground and make it as hard as
a brick : when the dry weather comes, of necessity there
must be a great deal of trampling of the ground. In pretty

Cultivation after Planting.

close planting- it must be trampled upon pretty nearly all
over; and if this take place in wet weather, the ground
will become baked, and, consequently, destitute of fertility
when the dry weather comes : there will be less dews; and,
in all respects whatsoever, the ground will be less fit to pro-
mote the growth of the trees.

OF THE CULTIVATION AFTER PLANTING.

79. Some people -imagine that trees, the roots of which
are never seen, and that are known to go so deep into the
ground, care nothing at all about what takes place on the
surface of the earth. How happens it then that the Ame-
ricans, when they find their orchards beginning to decay;
find the trees having a great deal of dead wood coming in
them, and find them to bear smaller fruit than usual; how
comes it, that they, who are by no means apt to be too pro-
digal of their labour, send the plough and harrow amongst
the trees, and manure the land ? How comes it that an Oak
tree, which penetrates down into the ground to a distance
equal to that between the ground and its summit, will
beggar, when growing by the side of a turnip-field, all the
turnips growing within several yards of its trunk ? It is not
its shade that does this mischief to the turnips, for it takes
place on the south side of it as well as on the north, which
I have witnessed in hundreds of instances, and which every
farmer knows to be true. The truth is, the trees draw their
nourishment, principally, from the ground near the surface;
and, as they pull much harder than the turnips, or any thing
else of the herbaceous kind, their roots will have the greater
part of the manure, put as much as you will into the
ground.

80. Very erroneous, therefore, is the notion, that weeds

General Instructions.

and grass do trees no harm; for they do young* trees more
harm, perhaps, than they do to any other thing . Yet, we
every where see gentlemen leave the young trees to take
what care of themselves they can. They are planted, and
are left to contend shigle-handed against all the battalions
of grass of every sort, docks, thistle:?, dandelions, nettles, and
all those weeds, any one i)lant of which sucks out more of
the virtue of the ground than any young tree in the world ;
and if the winter did not come in mere charity, to cut them
down, the trees \yould never surpass them in height.
Nothing can be more miserable than to see a plantation of
young trees thus infested. The weeds draw out all the
moisture of the ground in dry weather ; they shade the
stems of the trees, which is a very great injury ; the creep-
ing kinds crawl up them, hamper their leaves and twigs,
and, not unfrequently, you see the trees completely stifled
by them. None but the hardy kinds will endure treatment
like this for any length of time. They die^ in short, in
great proportion, and those which survive are in a mise-
rably stunted state for many years, unless they have the
good luck to beat the weeds, and to get the soil for tlieir
own use.

81. Young trees, therefore, should be kept clean: a
plantation ought to be kept as clean as a hop-garden; and,
like that of the hop-garden, ought to be dug with a fork
every winter. It is best not to dig too early; because the
ground run? together in consccpience of the quantity of the
wet that falls upon it before the s{)ring; late in February,
or early in March, is time enough to dig it. The winds in
March dry it through and through, and then the rains in
April and May make it fine and light all the summer; easy
to hoe, and the weeds easily kept down.

Cultivation afteii Planting.

82. I should like for some gentleman to leave a small
part of his plantation to take its chance in the usual way,
and to cultivate the I'est in a proper manner. He would
soon find, that his additional expense would be paid for a
hundred fold. It is not the extent of a plantation: it is the
height and bulk of the trees; it is the quantity of timber^
and not the breadth of land, that a man ought to look ati
If trees be planted at the distance that I shall give direc-
tions for planting them, the expense of cultivation will
cease very soon; for, in a couple of years, their roots and
their shade together will have totally subdued the whole of
the multifarious race of the natives of the soil. The shade
will finish what the roots have begun ; and the seeds of the
weeds must lie in the ground and wait patiently for the
felling of the plantation. There they loi/Z /ie, however, till
the summer sun can get at them ; and, whenever it does,
up they will come.

83. Before I conclude these general remarks, I must add
a few relative to the (piestion ; namely, whether it be proper
to plant a mixture of trees in one and the same plantation ;
and I have to declare my opinion decidedly in the negative.
This is a very important matter, and merits the greatest
attention.

84. If the plantation be intended to be merely orna-
mental, a mixture of trees may, according to some tastes,
be deemed desirable; though that is not ray taste ; nothing
appearing to me much more disagreeable to look at thau
a ragged wood, some trees without and some trees with
leaves; some with their leaves still hanging on, but in a
half dead state, while others are pretty nearly green.
However, this is merely matter of taste; 1 like uniformity
of growth and of hue; others may like the contrary; and

General Instructions.

if tliey do, they will, of course, when Ihey seek mere orna-
rneut, j)iit different sorts of trees into the same plantation ;
making- up their minds, of course, to see some of them a
couple of feet high, while others are thirty or forty feet high.
But, whatever men may do when they plant for mere orna-
ment, they ought to be a little more careful about insuring"
growth in the trees when they plant for profit, and with a
hope that their plantations will become fortunes for their
children.

85. In all cases where plantations are made for the pur-
poses of producing timber or underwood, all the trees
ought to be of one and the same sort ; and, as nearly as pos-
sible, of one and the same size and height. A Mr. Pontey,
in a book which he published about planting, gave it as
his opinion that a plantation ought to be composed of trees
of various sorts; because, as he asserted, their roots had a
variety of tastes, those of one tree liking (or being partial
to, astheladies call it) one sort of diet, and those of another
tree, another sort of diet ! He also contended that there
were these different sorts of diet in the ground; and that
therefore, a Beech, a Bird), an Ash, an Elm, and an Oak,
might all live very harmoniously together, seeing that one
would feed greedily upon what all the rest would reject ;
and that, thus, you might as well have ten trees as one, if
there were room enough for their trunks.

86. It is truly surprising that any man should put forth
opinions like these at the end of almost the hundred years
that Mr.TuLL's famous work on the horse-hoeing hus-
bandry has been within the reach of every man in England,
and has been in the libraries of all gentlemen in England
who have considerable libraries, for pretty nearly a hundred
years. This book taught the very first beginnings of the

Cultivation after Planting.

drill husbandry; it attracted wonderful attention ii\ its au-
thor's day; the Encyclopedias of late years dwell largely upon
the Tullian system ; and yet, with the demonstrations, the
clear and indubitable proofs, of the erroneousness of this
notion before him, Mr. Pontby puts it forth as admitted
truth. A Mr. Bradley, who had, in the time of Mr.TuLL,
written a good deal upon husbandry and gardening, had
ascribed to vegetables the sense of tastej " by which," says
Mr. TuLL, " he thinks that they take such nourishment
" as is most agreeable to their respective natures, refusing
" the rest ; and that they will rather starve than eat that
" which is disagreeable to their palates." Mr. Bradley
had said, in few words, " they feed as differently as horses
do from dogs, or as dogs do from fish." But, Mr. Tull
discovers, that the same writer, in his work on gardening,
asserts, " that Thyme, and other aroraatics, being planted
" near an Apricot tree, would in time destroy that tree."
WHY? What reason is there for supposing that these
lirtle plants would destroy the tree ? It could not be their
shade : it could not be by depriving it of even the smallest
portion of sun or air. Tiie rains, too, would go down to its
roots in spite of these little creeping plants; and, as they
are at the extreme point, with respect to difference in
nature to an Apricot tree ; as their food ought, according
to Mr. Bradley, to be as different from that of the Apricot
as the food of horses is from that of dogs ; or, as the food of
dogs is from that of fish : what in all the world could make
Mr. Bradley say, that these little diminutive plants, if
standing near an Apricot tree. Mould in time destroy that
tree ? Mr. Tull might have said so, and did say so, with
perfect consistency; for he contended, and he proved
beyond all doubt, that the nourishment was of the same
kind for roots of all sorts.

General Instructions.

87. If roots of different things take different food out of
the same ground, how is it tiiat tlie roots of an Oak tree,
or any other tree, destroy turnips or corn growing upon
the top of the ground in which the roots of the tree are ?
It is well known to gardeners, that to have flourishing
wall-trees you must not ])lant pereiniial flowers, or any
devouring plants, along the borders where they stand.
Mr. TuLL, during his arguments upon this subject, ob-
serves, that if plants of various sorts, fed upon nothing but
one particular portion of the soil, and left the rest tor other
plants to feed upon, there could be very little reason for
keeping the ground clear from weeds; for that the WTeds
being totally different in their nature from wheat, for in-
stance, might live very hai)pily along with the wheat ^ that
they might reckon their seeds together in the same piece
of ground, without any injury to the crop of either ! This
absurdity was attempted to be got over by the adversaries
of Mr. Tui.L, by saying that the weeds robbed the wheat
of part of the oir, that it would otherwise have had; that
they shaded it more or less, either at stem or at top. To
show the absurdity of this defence, which was, indeed,
nothing more than a miserable slmfi^le, Mr, '^I'ull pro-
posed to leave a piece of wheat with a certain portion of
rather tall weeds in it; to clear another piece of equal
extent of all weeds whatever; and then, to stick uj)
amongst the wheat which had been cleared of the weeds
little sticks or twigs, in bulk equal to the weeds in the other
piece of wheat; and then he ventured to pledge his life,
that the crop in the piece of wheat having the weeds left
in it, would not amount to more than three -fourths of the
crops having the sticks and the twigs. None of his adver-
saries ever accepted the challenge, and his princii)les re-
mained triump'hant.

Cultivation after Planting

88. It is quite clear, therefore, that all trees feed upon the
same sort of nourishment ; and that, by planting different
sorts of trees in the same plantation, you gain nothing by
this imaginary difference in their tastes. But you lose a
great deal by mixing them in a plantation. There are no
two sorts that keep pace exactly with each other in point
of growth. Some sorts increase in circumference of stem,
and mount more slowly, than others. Some go up with
side branches, not much extended j others spread out very
much, and of course mount not so fast. It is impossible,
then, that in a mixed plantation, the growth in point
of height should be uniform ; and, if it be not uniform, some
trees must be shaded by others. This shading soon brings
drip along with it; and though the Hazel, the Willow, and
some other sorts of underwood, will, to a certain extent,
live, and grow a little under drip, even they will not thrive
in such a situation; for who has ever seen a wood, nearly
the whole of the ground of which was shaded with lofty
trees, and seen at the same time and in the same ground
a thriving underwood ?

89. But, besides the shade arising from the inequality in
the growth of trees, there is the inequality in the portion
of food. One sort of tree devours a great deal more than
another. Its roots are more numerous, larger, spread
about to a greater extent, and actually starve trees of
another sort standing near it. I will venture to engage
that if a Locust tree were planted with a Lime, a Horse
Chesnut, a Beech, and even an Elm, all planted at the
same time, and being of the same size and height, and all
the rest standing within two feet of the Locust tree; I will
engage that, at the end of ten years, the Locust tree would
have destroyed, or made next to nothing of, all the others,
while it would be a tree of thirty or forty feet high, extend-

k2

General Instructions.

ing its branches over the tops of every one of the others,
and leaving nothing alive of them, excepting the mere
stumps. In the making of plantations, trees would not,
except in particular instances, to be hereafter mentioned,
be planted so closely, as within two feet of each other;
but, if it were within four feet, or even six feet or more,
the effect would be proportionately the same : the roots
of the aspiring tree would rob those of the other trees;
and though it might not actually extend its branches over,
the tops of them, there would be the side shade, and all
the injuries arising therefrom.

90. Therefore all the trees in a plantation intended to
produce timber, and all the plants of underwood intended
to produce poles, hoops and the like; all the trees and
plants, in every individual plantation, ought to be of one
kind. This has been very judiciously attended to by Lord
Viscount Folkestone, in some plantations of Locusts,
which he made in the Spring of 1823 or 1824. The whole
of his plantation of that year, consisted of perhaps thirty
or forty acres ; but his Locusts, which he did me the
honour to have from me, he planted in dumps, in divers
parts of the plantation, and agreeably to my advice, at the
distance of four feet apart, having no other trees planted
M'ith them. I saw these clumps in the fall of 1826, many
of the trees being more than twenty feet high, almost all
being pretty nearly of an equal height. The rest of the
plantation had been made on the mixture plan. It was
difficult to say how that would go on, for the trees had
made comparatively little progress, while the Locusts were
really beautiful clumps of trees, notwithstanding that they
were no taller than the other trees, at the time of their
being planted.

Cultivation after Planting.

91. Not only ought the trees, therefore, to be all of the
same kind ; but, as nearly as possible, of the same size and
height; for a stout tree will get a head of a feebler one;
it will shade it above and circumvent it beneath. If, there-
fore (and this is always the case), your plants come out of
your nursery of different sizes, sort them before you begin
planting ; and plant all of the same size together. They
will then all grow up of the same height; and though one
part of your plantation, will perhaps be less lofty than
another for nine or ten years, that is of very little conse-
quence, and is not even disagreeable to the eye.

THE TREES,

ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDEU, WITH THE INSTRUC-
TIONS RELATIVE TO EACH.

92. It will frequently happen, that a tree will have to be
called by two or more different names. The Locust tree,
for instance, is called the False Acacia, or Psrudo
Acacia; and some readers would look for the instructions
relative to that tree, under the word Acacia, and not under
the word Locust. Then, again, there are some trees, which
all belong to one family, and yet that go by different names.
For instance, there are the Abele and the Aspen; but these
are Poplar trees; they are nothing more than different
sorts of Poplar; and, therefore, a description of them, as
well as every thing relating to them, will be found under
the word Poplar. In order, however, that no incon-
venience may arise from this arrangement, an index will be
found at the end of the Book, and will of course be pub-
lished M'ith the last Number, containing all the names, that
are, as far as I have ever heard, in any thing like common
use. This Index will be in Alphabetical order, of course :
the names will be the English names, followed by the Bo-
tanical names : so that, if the reader have not been accus-
tomed to make use of the word Locust, for instance, he will
look for the word Acacia; and against that word he will
find, "See Locust." If he look for Aspen, he will find
" See Poplar." Amongst the American Trees, there is one
which is commonly called Bass Wood. I have called this
by the American name, but it is a Lime Tree; and the

TrtE Alder.

Latin name is Tilia Americana; therefore, when the
reader looks at the Index, for the word Lime, he will, in
one of the instances, find " See Bass fVood." This Index
is, therefore, a thing of great importance, and must be
attended to by the reader, Avho will otherwise experience
great mortification. The Index is made out according to
the commonest English and American names. The Botanical
name is added, but I have not thought it necessary to make
a Botanical Index also. Particular trees go by different
names, in different parts of the country. I have, in every
case, therefore, taken all the common names that I have
ever heard of; and if the reader do not find the name of
any tree that he wants to read about, in the part of the
book where he would expect to find it; for instance, if he
do not find the Aspen Tree in that part of the book where
the Alphabetical order would induce him to expect to find
it; let him then turn to the Index, there he will find,
"Aspen. See Poplar.'' Having given this explanation,! now
proceed to take the trees one after the other. According to
the Alphabet, Abele would be the first and Acacia the
second ; but, as the first of these will come in its proper
place, under the word Poplar ; and as the second will
come in its place, under the word Locust, I begin my
observations and instructions with the Alder.

7H:0 ^laJi'B^m

In Latin, Alnns : in French, Aune.

93. The botanical characters are:— It hath male and female flowers, at
separate distances on the same tree ; the male flowers are collecteJ in a cy-
lindrical katkin, which is scaly, loose, and imbricated on every side, each
scale having three flowers, which have two minute scales on the side. The
flower is composed of three equal florets, fixed to the empalement by a single
scale • each floret is of one leaf, divided into four oval segments which spread
open ; these have four small stamina, crowned by double summits. The

The Aldkr.

female flowers grow in a katkin, in tbe same manner as the male. The com-
mon katkin is imbricated, having three scales whicli are every way opposite,
fasteuerl to the central string- or axis, haviii;^ two heart-shaped flowers point-
ingj toward the apex, where it is situated. They have no visible petals, hut a
short oval germen, supporting two bristly styles, which are the length of the
scales of the empalement, and crowned with a plain stigma. It hath no peri-
carpium, but the seeds are included in the scales of the katkin, which are
oval and winged.

94. There are two other descriptions of Alders in Eng-
land, and there are several in America. But these are of
the Fnmgiila tribe ; their seed is in a berry, and not in a
cone, like that of the common Alder. There is an Ameri-
can Alder, which is, in England, looked upon as an orna-
mental shrub, on account of the whiteness of the under side
of its leaf. This is what the Americans call the Black
Alder, the upi)er side of the leaf being- of a very dark green.
But, with these varieties this work, which must, generally
speaking, confine itself to Forest Trees and Underwoods,
has nothing to do. The common Alder of England appears
to be precisely like that of America in all respects : it will,
therefore, be useless to speak of any other.

95. The ALDER: Alnus Glutinosa. That is, the Com-
mon English Alder, is seldom suffered to grow into a timber
tree; but there is no doubt that it w^ould become a timber
tree if suffered to grow after the manner of Oaks and Elms.
The uses to which the Alder is put do not make it necessary
that it should grow into a large tree. It is used for poles;
for the making of the wood part of brushes ; for the
making of clogs, j)attens, and heels of shoes ; and for
various other purposes that do not require great size in the
Avood. The wood is light and brittle, and does not last
long if exposed to wet. It makes but a very poor hop-
pole, and is, in short, fit for very few uses by which it is
exposed to the weather ; but it is of very fast growth j it

The Aldkr.

does for many purposes under cover ; and the tree grows
in places in wiiich trees producing better timber will not
grow.

96. Like all other trees, the Alder may be raised from
seed. It bears what is called a katkin, like the IFiUow,
the Nut, and the Birch. This katkin is green, in the first
j)lace ; it afterwards becomes brown, and it will, if suffered
to do it, hang on the tree till the next Spring. When it is
dry, rub it to pieces, and you will see the little flat seeds,
each with a sort of wing to it. A single katkin contains,
j)erhaps, a thousand seeds or more. The katkins need
not, however, be rubbed to pieces, imtil it be time to sow
the seeds, because the seed keeps best in the katkin.

97. The seed oi the Alder may be gathered from the tree,
as soon as it is dry ; then made perfectly dry in the sun or be-
fore a fire ; and then put into a bag or box and kept in a dry
place. The time of sowing is the month of March or April;
but as to the manner of sowing, that will be found to be
described under the head of Birch. When the plants are
up, manage them in the same manner as directed for the
Birch. But there is another and more common mode of
managing the Alder; that is to say, not to raise plants
from seed ; but, from cuttings of about two feet long, and
about the size of a common broom-stick. These are cut at
any time between the months of October and March, and
are planted, in a sloping direction, in beds or plantations,
Avhere they stand at about four feet apart in every direc-
tion. But care must be taken not to leave too much of the
cutting above ground; perhaps five or six inches are
quite enough. Here the plants grow, sending out several
shoots, which are all to be cut down close alter two years'
growth, and the next shoots grow up to poles.

The Ai.RER.

98. 1 do not believe, that, even as underwood, the stems
raised from cuttings arc any thing like so good as those
raised from seed; but there is no difference in the mannei*
of cultivating. If tlie plants be raised from seed, they
ought, after having been one year removed from the seed-
bed, to be put into the plantation at the same distances as
directed for the cuttings; and, if they be planted in the
fall of the year, they ought to be cut down within an inch
of the ground in the next month of April. If they be not
planted till late in the spring, it will be best not to cut
them down until the spring following; but, cut down they
must be, by all means, and very nearly close to the
gf round.

99. The Alder wuU live, and even grow, in pretty dry
land; but its delight is in wet, and very wet, land. It likes the
sides of running brooks, especially Avhere the water breaks
out and steeps the land. The Alder will grow most
luxuriantly with water constantly around it; but it thrives
best, not in a mere swamp, but in ground that is very wet;
and it by no means dislikes stagnant water. Hence an
Alder plantation is generally called an Jlder bed, as an
Osier plantation is generally called an Osier bed. In such
situations, the Alder-shoot soon becomes a pole, and a very
straight pole too, though exceedingly brittle. It will be
cut down, of course, of the size that is required ; but,
generally, about ten years' growth produces poles of twenty
feet or more in length, each with a butt of from four to six
inches in diameter. These are cut off, as closely as possible
to the ground, at any time between October and the middle
of February; because the sap is then down, and there is
no danger of what is called bleeding, where the cut is made.
The cut should be as smooth as possible ; and the hook, or
the axe, should not give a doumivard stroke, but an upward

The Alder.

stroke ; for, if the cut be downwards, it leaves a raggedness
upon the stem, which lets in the water to a certain extent,
and produces rottenness and weakness.

100. The poles being cut down, should, as soon as possible,
be not only trimmed up by taking off the brushwood or spray
from them, but they should, with as little delay as possible,
have their bark taken off. This is done in the following manner:
you take two stakes, and drive them into the ground in
a sloping position, so that they cross each other at a point
distant from the ground about the height of a man's
breast. Then fix two other stakes in like manner, at about
ten or twelve feet distance ; you then lay the pole upon
these two crossings of the stakes, and with what is called a
ilraw-shave, you take off the main part of the bark. This
operation is always performed upon poles of this kind before
they are put up in the hop-gardens ; and, except by very
slovenly people, before they are applied to any use, whether
Avithin doors or without.

101. If it be desirable to have a large piece of Alder for
any purpose, the tree should certainly be raised from the seed j
but there are so many other trees to produce boards and
Other wood for temporary uses, that the Alder can scarcely
ever be wanted, except for poles and for the other uses
above mentioned. The wood is light, and it admits of a
polish not much amiss, but it is brittle almost beyond any
thing, and it cannot be safely trusted for more than one
year for a hop-pole. This circumstance renders it greatly
inferior to the Ash, and even to the Willow; but then it
will thrive where the Ash will not grow at all ; and, in the
same situation, it Avill make a pole of double the size that
the Willow will make in the same space of time. As
fuel, it is bevond all measure inferior to the Ash and to

The Ash.

every thing, as far as I can recollect, except the Poplau
tribe; but, on the otlier hand, what it does produce, it
produces quickly, and the tree has always this great re-
commendation, that it will thrive well in the most swampy
places, and will, sooner and more effectually than any other
tree, convert an ugly swamp into a good-looking planta-
tion. When cut down, it is quickly up again, and it soon
overtops all weeds and sedge, and every other thing that
infests the land in which it grows.

THE ASK.

In Latin, Fraxinus ; in French, Frene.

102. The botanical characters are : it has hermaphrodite and female flowers
on the same tree, and sometimes on different trees. The hermaphrodite flowers
have no petals, but a small four-pointed empalement, including two erect
stamina, which are terminated by ol)loni; summits, having four furrows. In
the centre is situated an oval compressed germen, supporting a cylindrical
style, crowned by a bifid stigma. The germen afterwards becomes a com-
pressed bordered fruit, shaped like a bird's tongue, having one cell inclosing
a seed of the same form. The female flowers are the same, but have no
stamina.

103. This tree is, on every account, one of those which
is of the greatest consequence. The manner, therefore, of
raising it, ought to have particular attention bestowed upor
it. There are several sorts of Ash, if we include, as we
must, those of America; but, though it will be necessary
to give so much in the way of descrij)tioii as shall be re-
quired to distinguish one sort from the other; and though
there is some difference as to the nature of the seeds of
different sorts of Ash : still, the manner of propagating, of
l)lanting, of cultivating, of pruning, and of cutting down
and ajjplying to use, is the same in all cases, as far as

The Ash.

reij^ards the Ash. It will not, therefore, be necessary to repeat
what I liave to say on these matters ; but to say the whole of
it, once for all, under the head of our own native Ash, with
which, therefore, I begin my account of this family of trees.

104. COMMON ENGLISH ASH: FraxinusExclesior.
It is well known that the Ash grows to a very great height,
and that it will, if left to grow, become a very large tree. It
is also well known, that it is a beautiful tree. Gilpin calls it
the Venus of the woods. It has, however, one great dis-
advantage ; that is, that it puts on its leaves later in the
spring, and loses them earlier in the fall, than any other
English tree. But perhaps Gilpin was thinking of a naked
Venus, and then, indeed, the Ash claims the pre-eminence
in our woods. Laying aside this nonsense, however, of
poets and painters, we have no tree of such various and
extensive use as the Ash. It gives us boards; materials for
making implements of husbandry; and contributes towards
the making of tools of almost all sorts. We could not well
have a waggon, a cart, a coach or a wheelbarrow, a plough,
a harrow, a spade, an axe or a hammer, if we had no Ash.
It gives us poles for our hops; hurdle gates, wherewith to
pen in our sheep ; and hoops for our washing-tubs ; and
assists to supply the Irish and West Indians with hoops for
their pork barrels and sugai* hogsheads. It therefore de-
mands our particular attention; and, from me, that atten-
tion it shall have. It is underwood as well as timber; and
I shall have to treat of it in both these characters.

105. As to the soil, no tree that I know of, except the Birch,
is so little choice as the Ash. On dry ground, on wet ground,
on sand, on clay, on chalk, and on almost a swamp, if it be
not quite filled with water, the Ash will grow and thrive, if
it have anything like fair treatment. It has another quality.

The Ash.

wliich must render it particularly suitable to exposed situa-
tions, namely, that it fears not the winds. I do not mean
the power which the winds have in bringing it down;
though it is pretty stout in that respect, and does not come
ti'embling about like .'in El.m before every south-western
puff. I mean tliat sort of power which the winds have in
checking the growth of trees, and especially the winds
near the sea-coasts.' On the Hampshire coast, the wind
that comes from the Atlantic is, of course, a south-west
wind. You will see the oaks when exposed to this wind,
shaved up on the south-west side of them, as completely as
if shaven with a pair of shears. The head of tlie tree
resembles the top of a broad quickset hedge, which is
kept sheared up in a sloping form on one side only. The
head of such oak is still more, perhaps, like the roof of any
semi-circular building clapped up against a house; and at
the same time, the everlasting flinching of the tree, and the
continuance of the weight on one side, while it is kept
shaven off on the other, makes the trunk of the tree lean away
from the south-west. Close by the side of an Oak like this
you will see an Asu, of equal height and size, standing as
upright as if in the warmest of valleys; and I have looked,
with the most scrutinizing eye, without ever having been
able to discover that any of the shoots pointing to the south-
west, had received the smallest injury. I have seen thousands
and thousands of instances of this hardiness in the Ash,
and a very valuable qiudity it is^ though this astonishing
hardiness is, it must be confessed, but little consonant with
Mr. Gilpin's ideas. He called the Oak, the "Hercules of
the Woods ;" and, as I have shown, this Hercules flees at
the bare approach of that which the Venus sets at defiance.

106. The seeds of the Ash are vulgarly called ash keys;
but for what reason I know not. They follow an insigni-

The Ash.

ficant blossom, and hang npon the most prominent branches
of the tree in great bunches. Each seed is about an inch
long, including a sort of wing at the point of it : and these
seeds ought to be suffered to hang on the tree till they be
quite brown, which they will be in the month of Novem-
ber. The kernel of the seed is about half an inch long, in
a flat form, and is covered by a husk tightly drawn over it.
If you be curious, and have a mind to see a tree in embryo,
take an Ash seed, put it into a little water lukewarm, and
there let it remain for three or four days. Take it out : take
a sharp knife, split the seed longways down the middle, and
there you will see, standing as upright as a dart, an Ash
tree, with leaves, trunk, and stem ; that is to say, the head
of the root : and all this you will see with the naked eye,
as clearly as you ever saw an Ash tree growing in a field or
meadow.

107. Of all the trees that I know any thing of, none
bears seed more abundantly, or more easily to be collected,
than the Ash. This seed (of our English Ash) will not
germinate the first year uftei' it has been produced. By soak-
ing, by artificial heat, and by some other means, perhaps,
it might be made to come up the first year; but, as millions
of seeds will lie in a comparatively small compass, and as
there is no difficulty in keeping the seeds, the best way is
to keep them through the winter and summer, and to sow
them the next year. The seeds, when gathered in Novem-
ber, ought to be mixed with sand, three bushels of sand to
one bushel of seeds; and the heap should be laid in a shed,
in an outhouse of some sort, in a cellar, or in some place
where in would not run the risk of being flung about. At
the time of mixing, the whole mixture ought to be made
pretty damp. If the heap were laid out of doors it would
not signify, so that it were guarded against all molestation.

The Ash.

It sliould be turned and remixed now and then. Lying in
this state, produces a softening, absolutely necessary to the
vegetation of the seed. Mere age will not do; for I re-
member keeping some Ash seeds in dry sand, which came
up, indeed, after they were sown, but which lay in the
ground another year before they came up. If kept dry, I
think it likely that seed would remain good for, perhaps,
fifty years; but it will needs have one clear year to soften
in, before it come up.

108. But you must take care not to be too late in sowing
the seeds, in the second year of their age; for, if you have
kept them moist, they will begin to start by the month of
March, or before : so that the safe way is to sow them in
tlie month of November, just about one year after you have
taken them from the tree. The manner of sowing is this :
the ground should be as good as any that you have got;
it should be dug deeply ; it should be manured a little, if
you have any manure to spare; and when the whole of
youi' piece of ground is dug, you ought to proceed in the
sowing in the manner which I shall here very fully de-
scribe, because it is precisely in the same manner that the
seeds of many, and indeed of most, other forest trees, ought
to be sown. This one set of instructions will serve for the
sowing of so many sorts of trees, that I must request the
reader's particular attention to it.

109. The piece of ground having been duly pre])ared,
you make a straight line on one end, or one side of it, and
begin to lay it out into beds of three feet wide, with alleys
of fifteen inches wide ; that is to say, such an alley between
every two beds. In order to do this with regularity and
facility, you provide two straight sticks, each of them four
feet three inches long, and you cut a notch round each of

The Ash.

them at fifteen inelies distance from one of its ends. Two
men do the work, one at one end of the line and the other
at the other. Having made a straight line on the outside,
by chopping along with the spade, they suffer the line to
stand there till they have laid down their sticks, one at the
one end of the line and the other at the other, perpendi-
cular from the line. Then they take up the line, and
place it on the ground again, so as to come over the notch at
three feet from the point where the line lay before. They
then begin to mark out the alley by treading the ground
along by the side of the line. Having done this, they take
their spades and mark the alley more distinctly, by a little
chop made along by the side of the line, and by drawing a
little of the ground into the alley. They then (the sticks
having lain on the ground all the while) move the line, so as
to make it come to the end of the two sticks. They then
tread and chop as they did before, in or«ler to mark this
other side of the alley. Thus they have marked out a bed
three feet wide, and an alley fifteen inches wide. When
they have done this, they, before they move the line, move
their sticks, laying the three-feet ends of them to touch the
line, as they did before. They then move the line, place
it over the notches of the stick, as before directed, and then
they proceed to tread and to chop, and thus to form a
second alley and a second bed.

110. In this manner they proceed, till the whole of the
ground is laid out in beds and alleys. These large spaces
of fifteen inches wide for each alley may, to some persons,
appear to be a waste of ground ; but, whoever has had
much experience in the matter, must know that less space
is not sufficient. The earth has to be taken out of (he
alleys, for the purpose of covering the seeds. The sides of
the alley cannot be perpendicular, without leaving the

F

The Ash.

earth to crumble down. Tlie alley, therefore, will become
narrower tlian fifteen inches ; and, as to the beds, they can-
not be weeded if wider than three feet, without being tram-
pled on by feet, or being pressed by hands not much less
injurious than the feet. In short, nothing, in a case like
this, is so cheap as the ground. It ought not to be spared,
after you have been at the pains, and at the expense, of pre-
paring the seeds to sow in it.

111. After all the ground is laid out into beds and alleys,
the beds ought to be broken fine with the spade, or with the
rake; stones, bones, cliips, every hard and rough sub-
stance, ought to be taken off; and if the ground iiave not
been broken very fine in the digging, it ought to be well
broken now, before the sowing begin. When this is well
done, the sowing may begin; and it is executed in the fol-
lowing manner : the mixture of seeds and sand is taken
to the ground. The sower, furnished with a bowl or a
basket that he can take in his arm, goes along the alleys,
and drops the mixture upon the beds in such a way as that
the seeds may lie one of them in every square incli, or there-
abouts. It is not necessary to be very nice : if there be
here and there too wide a vacancy, or if the seeds lie now
and then upon one another, it is of very little consequence;
for if sound and well kept, and of due age, they will every
one of them grow, and will be up and bespangle the ground
with beautiful seed leaves in the month of April, or early
in May.

1 12. The seed lying thus scattered upon the beds, is next
to be covered, two incJies tldch; by taking the necessary quan-
tity of earth out of the alleys. The man who does the work,
throws up, as he goes along, earth sufiicient to cover half
of each of the beds that adjoins the alley; he breaks the

The Ash.

earth very finely in tlie alley before lie lays.it upon the bed;
and when he has laid it on the bed he spreads it smoothly
over the seed, and breaks it very finely. Even before he
do this, it is good to go over the beds, and to pat the seed
close down to the earth with a spade or with the head of a
rake ; and, as the earth is laid on, great care should be
taken to break it fine and to press it down upon the seed,
so that the seed may be well fixed in the ground, and not
liable to be washed out by rains, heaved out by frosts, or
dragged up by worms. This work of covering the seed
should be executed, if possible, when it does not rain, and
when the ground is not very M^et ; for, if very wet, the
earth will cling about the spade and also about the feet of
the workmen ; and, which is of much greater consequence,
it will leave the ground in lumps upon the seeds j it will
cause there to be cavities when the ground becomes dry ;
the winds will be thus let in and the young plants will
perish or be stunted.

113. The reader will easily perceive, that, if necessary,
ten hands instead of two, and a hundred instead of ten,
might be employed at one and the same time on such
a job : some shifting the line, some treading, some chop-
ping, some breaking the earth upon the beds, some sowing
the seed, some patting the seed down, and, finally, two
men or more in every alley at work covering the beds.
Those who cover the beds, must take great care not to
break the edges of them : they ought to slope the edge
towards the alley ; tlyit is to say, to make the alley nar-
rower at the bottom than at the top ; and by all means to
keep the edge of the bed firm. When the vi'hole piece is
sowed and covered, care ought to be taken that no dogs,
cats, pigs, or any thing else come to disturb the beds.
I have never perceived that mice meddled with Ash seeds j

f2

The Ash.

and, therefore, it may be unnecessary to take precautions
against them ; but, if moles appear, they should be de-
stroyed instantly, and so should mice, if they should take a
fancy to such things ; for it is quite useless to put seed into
the ground, and then abandon it to its fate.

114. The sowing having taken place so early as Novem-
ber, the ground will necessarily become hard before the
month of April. It will first be battered by the rains, then
heaved up by the frost, then battered down by the rains
again, then dried and baked by the winds and sun of March
and April. This will not prevent the seeds from coming
up, for they would almost find their way through a brick ;
but, if the ground be very stiff in its nature (and we are not
always at liberty to choose our ground), the plants will be
feeble, and they never Avill thrive well until this hard
ground be broken about them. The best way, therefore, is,
when the winds of March have just begun to dry the
ground, to go with an iron rake and just break the ground
at the top, by pushing the teeth of the rake upon it from
you, and by taking about an inch wide of ground at a time.
This will open the ground for the seeds to come up; and if,
after this operation, the ground get dry, no rains will make
it stiff and hard, and the plants will come freelyjup, and be
in a beautiful state.

115. About the middle of May, the weeds, in all their
pernicious varieties, will begin to carry on a contest against
your plants. If Mr. Ponty's and Dr. Bhadley's doctrine
were true ; that is to say, if the weeds did not feed upon
the same sort of food as the Ash trees, you might save
yourself the trouble of weeding them ; but, as this doctrine
is false; as the weeds would soon starve your plants, which
would perish little by little, or which would, in the follow-

The Ash.

ing Autumn, be such insignificant things, as to leave you
110 hope of ever making any thing of them, it is absolutely
necessary that you keep the ground clear of weeds. This
is done by the hands of people, going along between the
alleys, pulling the weeds out with their hands, and either
putting them into baskets to carry them away, or throwing
them down into the alleys. The former is best, but is not
always convenient j at any rate, ALL the weeds and grass
should be taken clean out at the first weeding. It is
slovenly and scandalous work to take out nothing but the
prominent weeds ; the little weed that is left will become
a great weed in a very short time, and the sooner, because
its seniors have been removed. Weeders, if left to them-
selves, will always leave a slock in order to continue the
breed, upon the same principle that mole catchers abso-
lutely refuse you, and assign the reason at the same time,
to catch a mole in the breeding season. Tlie Aveeding
should, therefore, be thoroughgoing work ; it should not
be a partial removal of the obnoxious plantsj it should not
content itself with merely plucking out the great staring
things, and leaving the little underling, but perhaps much
more efficient agents in the work of mischief: the planter
should, in short, imitate the Dukic of Wellington j that
is to say, take out all quite clean, down to the very
, chick-weed, and not to leave any one under the name of
lamb's lettuce, or fat hen, or any other appellation indicative
of harmlessness ; even these apparently inoffensive things
should be taken out, and that too, if possible, to the very
bottom of their tap root. It may be impossible to do this
with regard to docks, thistles, and dandelions; but, in the
first place, before the ground is begun to be digged, you
should go over it, and take up all these with the greatest
possible care, and as deep as you can ; and then the diggers
should be made to take out, as they go on, every bit that

The Ash.

tliey find of these troublesome weeds. If any still remain,
you cannot get them up from the bottom without digging
up your plants ; you should have a long knife, therefore,
and cut off their tap roots to as great a depth as possible.
This done a couple of times, will make them very feeble
for the future, and will at any rate rid your plants of their
company for the summer.

116. A second weeding must take place about the latter
end of June; and a third about the middle of August; and,
at every weeding, treat the weeds exactly as the Duke of
Wellington has just now (February, 1828) treated the
faction called the Whigs.

117. In the month of October, your plants, supposing
your ground to be pretty good, and your management to
have been as I have directed, will be from five to seven
inches high ; and there would be, if sown as thickly as
they might be sown, forty thousand plants upon one single
square rod of ground ; but, supposing there to be but ten
thousand, you get a hundred thousand plants upon ten
rods of ground ; and that is enough to plant forty acres of
land, the plants as close together as it appears to be, in
such case, advisable to plant them. Is it not surprising then,
that any gentleman who is about to plant should decline to •
take the pains, the very small pains, the very trifling ex-
pense necessary to secure to him such a stock of plants?
Ash seeds are to be gotten every where in the proper
season. Any great country girl ^x*ould get a sack of these
seeds with nearly as great ease, and with much greater
safety to herself, than she >vould fill the sack with the tear-
ings of a hedge. The seeds for ten rod of ground could
not, to any gentleman in the country, cost above a shilling;
another shilling would mix the seeds with sand 3 five shillings

The Ash.

would dig the ground and sow it; another five shillings
would be ample pay for the weeding of it; so that, unless a
gentleman could talk of the rent of ten rod of ground, while
more than forty rods are thrown away in the kitchen garden
of every gentleman, the whole of the cost of this one hun-
dred thousand plants would be only twelve shillings^ much
about three halfpence a thousand; and I appeal to any
man who understands the business, for the correctness of
all that I have Iiere stated.

- 1J8. Now, as to what is next to be done with these
plants; that must depend upon circumstances. Generally
speaking, it is desirable to remove them, and to let them
stand in their new situation for one year or more ; but, if
I had ground quite ready for planting; if it were clean, and
especially if it were rich, I should plant out the trees at
once; but, in other cases, it would be advisable to remove
them into a nursery, where they may stand for one year or
for two years, and be always ready to go into plantations.
This work of removal from the seed bed is performed in
the following manner; and, as I shall have frequently to
refer to this part of my work, I must, as in the case of sow-
ing the Ash seeds, express a hope that the reader will
pay particular attention to the advice 1 am now about to
offer him.

119. The ground which is to receive these young plants
ought to be prepared in the same manner as is described
in paragraph 108, relative to the preparing of the ground
for the sowing of the Ash seeds. , The work ought to be
performed at some time between October and May. May
is rather too late; but really any time between the latter
end of October and the beginning of May may do very well
for these plants, which are little more difficult to take root

The Ash.

than a cabbage plant is. The work, however, never ought
to be done, if you can possibly avoid it, in ivet weather;
and in the rain by no means whatever. The weather may
become very dry before the month of 3.1ay, but even that is
a great deal better than wet weather ; nor is there any
danger in the drought, if you take the precautions which
I am nov/ about to mention.

1 20. You begin the work (after you have prepared the
ground), by taking up the whole of your plants; you then
sort them into large ones and small ones, for such there
wmH always be in every seed bed ; next you lay them by the
heels in the manner described in paragraph JO. It is
desirable, even at this early period, to divide the large
from the small ; and, perhaps, and certainly in some cases,
it may be advisable to divide them into three classes ; be-
cause, if you mix them either in the nursery or in planta-
tions, the strong will not only preserve their mastership
over the weak, but will go on, as is too much the case in
the affairs of mankind, augmenting their power and op-
pressions, in an increased proportion ; so that, at the end
of five or six years, or, indeed, at the end of two years, one
would scarcely believe it possible that these were all plants
that were sown in the same beds on one and the same day.
If classed properly, they do not injure one another; and
therefore I strongly recommend this classification.

121. The ground being duly prepared and the trees
ready, you begin the work thus : you dig the ground, as
you proceed, over again. Strain the line along the end or
side at which you are beginning; you make a chop along
by the side of the line, and takeout, all the way along, a
conple of spits of earth, and fling it back over the ground,
or wheel it to the end where you are to leave ofi\ When

The Ash.

yon have made tlie trench clear all along by the side of the
line, to the depth necessary to receive your plants, you
bring- the plants, with their roots pruned, in the manner
directed in paragraph 72? and place them along, with
your hand, just to touch the line, and with the bottom of
their roots resting upon the earth at the bottom of the
trench, in such way that each plant may stand not quite so
much sunk into the ground, as it was when it stood in the
seed bed. Yon will see precisely how much of it was
under ground before; and you must take great care not to
put more of it under ground at any rate ; and the best way
is not to put so much of it under ground by an inch in
depth.

122. When you have fixed a row of plants, at about six
inches apart, just so as to toucii the lino, and have crum-
bled the earth well in about their roots, put some earth
lightly up to them with the spade, and tread that earth up
against them, or rather upon their roots, with your foot.
Press it hard and firm about the roots of the plants. When
you have done this, they will stand with the level ground
behind them, and with a trench before them. You go on
now as if you were continuing to dig the piece of ground
again. You begin with your first line of spits to fill up
that part of the trench along which the young trees are
placed. The rows of trees ought to be about eighteen
inches asunder; therefore, when you have dug on, for the
distance of two feet, from the rowof trees just planted, and
have levelled the ground nicely, you remove the line, and
place it across your piece ofground eighteen inches from the
place where it stood before. This will leave six inches wide
of dug ground and your trench ; but you take your sjnule,
and cho[) down along close to the line, drawing this six
inches of ground back towards your trench. This gives
you the place for another row of Plants, to be placed

TriE Ash.

along against the line. You plant this row as you did the
first: thus you go on to the end of the piece; and thus
your plants are all in the ground; you have dug your
ground all over the second time, and you leave a surface
untouched by foot, or by any thing to make it hard.

123. By this mode of proceeding you avoid all the tramp-
ling that generally takes place in the performing of this
■work, and you give to your plants the best possible chance
of success. As you will have sorted your plants, you will,
of course, plant them in assortments ; and, therefore, it is
necessary to observe, that you may, if you want room, put
the smaller sizes at four inches apart in the row, and the
rows at fifteen inches, or a foot, apart. This, however, is
not worth while, unless you ha})pen to be very much
pressed for room. It is to be recollected, however, that,
though these plants stand on a very small space in the seed
bed, they require room when planted out in the manner
above described. Planted in rows, which are at eighteen
inches apart, and at six inches from each other in the row,
a rod will furnisli room for three hundred and. sixty-three
plants, and tin acre M'ill furnish room for fifty-eight thou-
sand and eighty plants: so that the hundred thousand trees,
which, in the seed bed, occupied only ten rods of ground,
will now occupy not much short of two acres of ground;
that is to say, thirty-two times as much ground as they oc-
cupied before.

124. The plants having been thus safely put into a nur-
sery, they remain till they be wanted to go into plantations.
Here I have to refer the reader to the general instructions,
contained in the former part of this work, where I have
(paragraph 40) treated of the seasons and of the weather
for planting ; of the age and size of the plants, and of pre-
paring their roots for planting (paragraph 48) ; of the

Th6 Ash.

method of performing the work of planting, (paragraph
75). It will he well for the reader now to go through
those paragraphs again : they apply to all trees, and of
course it is useless to repeat here the observations which
they contain.

125. But, there is to be considered the distance, which
plants should be planted from each other, in a plantation ;
and, it is evident enough that different trees will require
different distances. I am now to speak then of the dis-
tance at which I would place Ash in a plantation. If the
plantation be made with a view to profit, which is the only
view which I ought to suppose the planter to have, the
trees ought to be planted at very little more, if any, than
four feet apart in every direction. If intended for under-
wood, as the Ash generally is, they may be planted still
closer ; and, I have often thought, and think still, that a
plantation of Ash, the rows only eighteen inches apart, and
the plants not more than eight or nine inches apart in the
row, would yield an enormous profit, if, in the first place,
every other row were taken out, and every other plant in
each of the remaining rows ; if these were taken out at the
end of six or seven years, they would be hoops, and that
too, observe of grouTid Ash, as the wood from these seed-
lings is called. The rest of the trees might remain till
they had a growth of ten years, by the end of wlirch time,
they would, if properly treated and in pretty good ground,
make hop-poles of ticenty-fcet long. So that at the end of
ten years from the day of planting, an acre of land would
\ie\d forty-three thousand and sixty hoops, Rnd foni'teen thou-
sand five hundred and twenty hop-poles. The hop-poles
would be worth on the spot, in any part of England, two
pounds the hundred at least ; and, in some parts of it, pretty
nearly, if not quite, twice that sum. That sum, however.

The Ash.

per liuiidred would make the acre of ground yield two hmi'
dred and ninety pounds in poles in the course of the ten
years; the price of the hoops varies greatly according to
the local situation; but, on an average, they could scarcely
be worth less than two pounds a thousand, Avhich makes
eighty-seven pounds more; and, of course,' the total amount of
the produce of one acre in the space of ten years, three
hundred and seventy-seven pounds. The costs would consist
of rent, taxes, fencing, cutting down, and trimming. The
labour would very nearly be paid by the faggot wood ; and
I have no idea of any annual expense for fencing, and for
cultivation in the early stages of the plantation, to exceed
four or five pounds an acre. In short, I think, I can defy
any man to show that all the costs ui)on the acre, rows
eighteen inches apart, and plants six inches apart in the
rows, would exceed a hundred pounds in the course of the
ten years, including every charge of every descrij)tion, and
allowing tlie land to be worth a reuL of three or four pounds
an acre. Here then, in the first ten years, there would be
gain greater than can possibly be derived in the ordinary
way in the course of four or five times ten years.

126. But, this is not all ; for, the poles once cut down,
there would come up from the stems another crop ; not,
I verily believe, equal to the first ; but, probably, three
times as great as ever was yielded by a common plantation;
and, if the near distances of the plants should cause a falling
off in the rapidity of the growth, the plantation might be
grubbed up ; the roots all taken out; it might have a year
or two in turnips or other roots, and then be planted with Ash
again. If the plantation were in a part of the country where
hop-poles were not wanted, the poles would be wanted for
other purposes. If let stand till they be twelve, fifteen, or
sixteen years old, they would be fit for wheelwrights, and for

The Ash.

many of the numerous uses that Asii timber is applied to.
Finally, if you choose that this acre should become a plan-
tation of Ash trees of lofty stature, you have only, when you
cut your poles, to leave one standini;^ upon about every
ten square feet ; and, if these should be found to be in a few
years time, too near to each other, you have only, in pro-
portion as they are in danger of becoming too crowded, to
cut part of them out. Those that remained, would subdue
all the stems that were under them ; but still there would
be some underwood, and though of an inferior description,
would much more than pay all the expenses of keeping the
plantation pruned and fenced.

127- In whatever way, however, the plantation be made,
and with whatever view, the plants ought to be cut down
nearly to the ground, the next year after they have been
planted; that is to say, if planted in the fall, or in the spring,
they ought to be cut down in the succeeding spring, and in
the month of April. If planted in the spring of this year, they
ought to be cut down in the month of April next year ;
and if planted in the last fall, they ought still not to be cut
down until they would have been cut down, if they had
been planted in the spring. In other words, and for fear of
being misunderstood on this point, they ought to have the
growth of one summer, before they be cut down.

128. As to pruning, very few trees want less of it than the
Ash, which naturally grows very straight, sends out no con-
siderable limbs till it gets to the height of twenty or
thirty feet, and is very little subject to rot and to grow hol-
low, from the breaking or the tearing of its branches or
limbs. By ])lanting the trees close together, particularly at
the first, you insure straightness, and also an absence of side
shootsi of any size. The plants draw each other up in a

The Ash.

straight form, and, if thinned out gradually and judiciously,
they become an imiform and most beautiful plantation.

129. Ash Trees ought always to be felled in winter, and
the coppices ought to be cut in the same season. The leaf
should be entirely off, before you begin to cut; and though
this is a tree that comes out late into leaf, the felling and
coppice- cutting ought be finished by the first of March at
latest. The bark of the Asii is of no value, and therefore
there is no reason for cutting the tree down at the season
when Oaks are cut; but the bark of the Ash, and, espe»
cially of the young Ash, is, if suffered to remain on, inju-
rious to the wood. As soon, therefore, as convenient, after
Ash poles are cut, the bark is taken off in the same maimer
as that described in the case of the Alder; paragraph 100,

130. I cannot conclude this article, without strongly re-
commending to my readers to pay great attention to what
has been said about this tree. As fuel, its wood is far better
than any other tree that >ve have : its growth is almost the
quickest : its various uses are all of importance ; and its
propagation, cultivation and management, are all nearly
as easy as those of a cabbage plant.

131. AMERICAN WHITE ASH: Fraxinus Ame.
RiCANA. In all that I have said above, I beg to be under-
stood as having spoken of the Ash generally, and not only of
the E)7glh]i Ashf being convinced that there are other Ashjss
much superior to it, in every respect whatsoever; and, of
course, more worthy of all that great attention which I
have represented it to deserve. This is particularly the
case, with regard to the American White Ash, which
grows to a greater height than ours, has a more beautiful
foliage, grows fastei", and produces a timber vastly superior.

The Ash.

MicHAUx say?, that it sometimes attains the height of
eighty feet, with a diameter of three feet. It abounds, he
says, and indeed I have seen it with my own eyes, in the
English province of New Brunswick, the centre of which
lies about five hundred miles to the north of Boston, in a
country covered Avitli snow seven months in the year,
leaving us in no doubt at all with regard to its hardiness,

132. This tree is frequently seen with a trunk undivided
by any limb to the amount of forty or fifty feet. It is
highly esteemed throughout the whole of the United
States. It is used in America for most of the purposes for
Avhich our Ash is used here. A great deal of it is brought
to England in plank; and Michaux, in his North American
Sylva, says that Mr. Oddy, in his treatise on European
commerce, " acknowledges it to be superior, for many pur-
poses, to the Common European Ash."

133. If it were extremely difticult to obtain the seeds of
this U'ee, I should not press it upon my i*eaders to plant it
in preference to the English Ash; because it is in hundreds
of thousands that it is wanted; but nothing can be more
easy than to obtain the seed. The tree grows in our own
province of New Brunswick, and also in Canada. A ship-
load of seeds might be collected, with far less trouble than
a ship-load of many of those things which are really of no
use when they have been brought across the seas.

134. There is this difference, this remarkable difference,
between the AMEaicAN White Ash and our English Ash,
namely, that the latter will have, as we have seen above,
two years for its seed to come up in, and tliat the American
White Ash will suffer its seed to come up the first year,
with just as much case as an onion or a radish seed, I havp

The Ash.

frequently sowed the seeds of this Ash in April, and have
luid them stand as thick as they could stand upon the
ground, though the seeds had been gathered fi'om the tree,
in America, in the previous month of November. I do not,
however, recommend this practice to any one; for the seeds
always ought to be sown, and always may be sown, in
February or March, which gives plenty of time for the
bringing of them from any part of North America.

135. That this tree grows much faster than ours, I have
liad abundant proof, and have, indeed, many thousands of
proofs now in my possession ; for the American White Ash
plants which I have at Kensington, and which were not
sown till last April, are now full as tall again as any of the
English Ash of the same age that I ever saw. Tliis, there-
fore, is, above all others, the Ash which I recommend to be
put into plantations in England, whether for ornament, for
timber, or for underwood.

f 136. AMERICAN BLACK ASH. Fraxinus Sambuci-
FOLiA. Michaux tells us that this Ash rises to the height of
sixty or seventy feet, hut that it does not grow to the size of
the White Ash. It grows in the same climate, and is used
for pretty nearly the same purposes, but is not so much es-
teemed. The bark of the White Ash corresponds with its
name, and so does that of the Black Ash. The first is not,
indeed, white, but of a j)ale grey colour, with a reddish
bud ; while the bark of the Black Ash has a very dingy
hue, and while the buds are black, like those of the buds
of our Ash. The leaves of the Black Ash are not much
above half the size of those of the Whitk Ash ; and there
is this further difference between the two trees, namely,
that the seeds of the Black Ash, like the seeds of our Ash,
will not come up until the second year. I have ?ome

The Ash.

Black Ash at this time. The seeds lay in the ground two
years, and the plants are now abont the height of those that
come from seeds of our Common English Ash.

137. AMERICAN RED ASH. Fraxmus Tometnosa.-^
This is a tree which rises to the height of sixty feet, and is
remarkable for growing very straight. JMichaux tells us,
that the wood is used for the same purposes as those to
which the wood of the other Ashes is applied. It is called
Red Ash because the bark upon the trunk is of a reddish
or deep brown colour, and because the perfect wood is, in
the heart of it, of a bright red. Its seeds, being gathered
in the autumn, and sown in the spring, come up the first
year.

138. AMERICAN BLUE ASH. Fraxinns Quadrangulata.
— ^This, as an ornamental tree, is very beautiful. The bark,
which is of a brickdust colour, or something approaching
it, forms itself in the smaller branches into five ribs or
angles ; and the seeds, at the butt end, w^here the kernels
lie, are of a bluish colour. According to Michaux, the
Blue Ash frequently exceeds in height sixty or seventy feet,
but is seldom of great diameter.

139. AMERICAN GREEN ASH, Frajn?iiis Viridis.—
This species of Ash differs from all the rest in the form of
its seeds, which have no wings, as those of all the rest have.
It is a small tree compared to any of the others, and is not
in general seen to be above twenty-five or thirty feet high,
■with a diameter of from four to ten inches. Its name arises,
in all probability, from the circumstance of the bark being
of a greenish hue, while the bud is of a pale green ; and
while the seeds have a stripe of green down the middle of
each. This tree appears to be known little of in the colder

G

The Ash.'

regions of America; but it appears to be a tree of great
beauty, and to be well worthy the attention of tiiose wlio
delight in beautiful plantations.

140. CAROLINIAN ASH. Fraxinus Platicarpa.— This,
which closes my list of Ash trees, is very distinctly charac-
terized by the form of its seeds, which are much broader,
and more flat than those of the seeds of any other sort of
Ash. The leaves are much broader than even those of the
White Ash; and the colour of its bark is of a greenish
yellow; but it rises to a height seldom exceeding thirty
feet; and, though a very beautiful tree, is not, as Michaux
tells us, esteemed like the other Ashes, for the properties
of its wood. Its seeds come up the first year ; and it grows
very fast while young.

141. I have mentioned all these different sorts of the
Ash tree, because many readers may like to be in possession
of all of them; but, as subjects for plantations made for
profit, I recommend the English Ash, or the American
White Ash by preference, when that can be obtained. In
all cases, where you are uncertain as to whether the seeds
will come up the first year or not, it is the best way to
sow them in the spring of the next year, after they have
been gathered in the preceding year. If you happen to be
late in the season, it is a good way to steep the seeds for
two or three days in a tub, in water poured upon the seeds
when it is pretty hot; not scalding hot, but rather hotter
than you like to bear your hand in. Cover the tub over
when you have put in the water; let the seeds remain
soaking for about three days and three nights ; then sow
them, in the manner directed for sowing the seed of the
English Ash; break the ground very fine over them, press
it down upon them with great care ; and, if the weather

The Ash.

be dry, and the sun hot, which sometimes happens in April,
cover the beds over in the day-time with mats, until rain
or shady weather come, or until the plants come up.

142. An observation which relates to Ash trees in general
is this, that the greatest care should be taken to keep
cattle out of the young plantations, and out of coppices,
where the young shoots are yet low. A hungry cow, or
a hungry horse, especially the latter, would destroy an
acre in the course of a few days. When once cropped off,
they can yield you neither pole nor hoop. The coppice,
if cropped all over, would yield you nothing but fagot
wood. I therefore beg leave to press upon all those who
have young plantations, or recently-cut coppices, the abso-
lute necessity of keeping all sorts of cattle out of them, not
forgetting those mischievous vermin, the rabbits, one of
which will bark twenty, thirty, or perhaps fifty, young
Ash trees in a night. In many cases, valuable coppices
have been nearly totally destroyed, or at least a ten years'
growth of them has been destroyed by the teeth of the
rabbits and the hares, both of them fond of the bark of
young trees in general ; and this valuable tree, the Ash,
happens, unfortunately, to be one of their favourite
dishes.

the: SEECZf.

In Latin, Fagus ; in French, Hitre.

143. The Botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers, on the
same tree ; the male flowers are collected into globular heads ; these have
no petals, but have several stamina included in an empalement of one leaf,
which are terminated by oblong summits. The female flowers have a one-
headed empalement, cut into four parts, but have iio petals; the germen is
fixed to the empalement, supporting three styles, crowned by fixed stigmas.
The germen afterwards becomes a roundish capsule, armed with soft spines,
opening in three cells, each containing a triangular nut.

144. The Beech is a tree so well known in England; it is
so well known to be one of the loftiest and biggest and
hardiest trees that we have; it is, in so many instances, a
sort of landmark in the country; its uses are so well known,
and the beauty of its foliage, in the fall of the year, has
been the theme of so many poets ; that to give any descrip-
tion of its height, bulk, uses, or hue, would be almost an
insult to the English reader ; I shall, therefore, go at
once into those matters which readers, in general, are not
well acquainted with.

145. The seed of the Beech is a nut, contained in a thick
and rather prickly husk. This nut is of a triangular shape,
and is covered by a double coat, like that of aCnESNUT,
from which the kernel diftei's not very much in taste. These
seeds drop from the trees, or are beaten otf from them, in the
months of October and November. They should be so ripe,
as to fall out of the prickly husk or shell of their own accord.
When collected together they should be laid in the sun, or
hung up in small quantities in bags, in some room where
fire is constantly kept, in order that they may become i)er-
fectly dry on the outside; but they ought not to continue in

The Beech.

this state for more than a few days ; for, if they become
shrivelledy they perish at once. When the nuts are dry,
they should be put into sand that is very fine, and made
l^erfectly dry, putting three bushels of sand to one bushel
of Beech Nuts. They must not be in a damp state like
the seeds of the Ash ; for dampness would rot them in a
very short space of time. The Beech-nuts will not grow
if kept over one yea?'.

146. When the seeds are thus mixed with the sand, they
ought to be put into a box or barrel, and kept, if possible,
excluded from air. They should be kept thus, until
they be sowed 3 for doing which, the proper time is the
month of March, or that of April : the first of April is pro-
bably as good a time as any. I should, perhaps, prefer
the fall of the year, as in the case of the Ash ; but, in this
ease, there arc those mortal enemies, the mice; and though
you may kill these gentlemen, or a part of them, revenge
is poor work, in such a case : the best way is not to put the
nuts into the ground, until you have short nights for the
mice to work in, and until nature begin to present them
with other dishes to feed upon.

147. When Beech-nuts are picked up from under the
trees, you should know whether hogs have been at work
before you j for if they have, and have had time to do their
Avork completely, they will not have left you, except by
mere chance, a single nut that will grow, though they may
have left many that have a fair outside appearance. The
hog's nose is so discriminating, and his scent so fine, that
he will discover, by merely putting his nose near the
outside coat, or husk, whether vlie kernel be sounrJ, though
that kernel has a coat under the outside husk. The safest
way is, not to collect the nuts where hogs have been before

The Beech.

you ; but if you be, by any accident, compelled to do tliis,
then you ought to try the soundness of your nuts before
you put them into sand; otherwise you can have no de-
pendence upon them. This work of trying is performed in
this mnnner : you put the nuts into a tub, or some vessel,
partly filled with clear water; and all that you find to sm.n
are defective to an extent that will prevent them from
growing. It is not certain that all that sink will grow j
but they generally will, except in cases where they have
been laid in heaps and h2i\e. fermented ; for. that will effec-
tually prevent their growing, though they will, if still
moist, sink in water. The observations and instructions,
contained in this paragrapb, apply to chesnuts, walnuts,
hickory nuts, and nuts of all kinds, and also to acorns.

148. The SOWING of Beech-nuts is performed in pre-
cisely tbe same manner as that of Asli-seeds, for which see
paragraph 109 antl onw^ards. But the Beecb-nuts may, and
perhaps they ought to be, sow^n half an inch deeper. As to
the time of sowing, it ought not to be too early ; for, if they
lie long in the ground before they begin to spring up, they
are food for mice all the while; and, even if sown in March,
you must be careful to kill these depredators if they
attack the nuts ; for, if they once get into your beds, they
make dreadful havock.

149. The MANAGEMENT of the seed-beds, the trans-
planting of the seedlings into a nursery, the management of
them there, the final placing of them in plantations, are
all the same as those recommended in the case of the Ash.
But, the Beech is never planted as undeitoood, it being
unfit for poles, hoops, stakes, hurdles, or tool-handles. So
that the plantations ought never to be made very thick, as
the wood is of little use till it attain a considerable size.

The Bkech.

If the trees were planted four or five feet apart, they might
be thinned out as they grew up, so as to leave them, at last,
from ten to twenty feet apart. In this state they grow to a
great height, and form very beautiful woods, especially
where the land is chalky, or where there is a light loam
Avith a sandy sort of stone beneath. As to cutting down
the trees the year after the planting, and as to the
PRUNING see first, paragraph 127 j and, in this place, once
for all, I will remark that all DECIDUOUS TREES,
ought to be cut down as directed in that paragraph. If
intended for underwood, all the shoots that thus come out
of the stem ought to remain; but if intended for timber
trees, they ought to be kept to one shoot ; that is to say, all
the shoots that come out except one, and that one the
strongest, ought to be cut away soon after they come out.
It will generally happen, that there will be a piece of the
stem sticking out above the point where this shoot comes
out. That piece of the stem ought to be pared away with
a knife, down to the point where the shoot issues. The
shoot will then grow over it, and, at the end of the second
year, you will not perceive that there ever has been a cut
in the stem. Beeches, and generally all trees not intended
for underwood, should be carefully pruned of their bottom
side shoots as they grow up, taking care always to cut off the
shoots close to the stem, and with a sharp knife. You
ought to begin pruning in the autumn after the fourth
summer's grawth, cutting off the lower side shoots, and
leaving those of the last three years' growth ; and this you
ought to continue to do, till you have a clear stem of the
length you wish to have it. This is work very easily per-
formed; the whole plantation ought to be gone over
regularly, from one end to the other ; and the pruningS
may be tied up in bundles, and will then pay for the
expense of the labour.

The Birch.

150. The Beech is always felled in the winter, at least
when the leaf is off. The uses of the wood are, boards,
parts of wheels, bowls, the wooden part of carpenters'
planes, and (when farmers fed their servants in their houses,
and when the labourer's cottage knew nothing- of the
accursed tea and crockery-ware) trenchers. This wood is,
by cleanly people, generally chosen for dressers, and for
shelves in milk-houses; for churns, cheese-vats, and the
like, it being white as deal, without its disagreeable smell,
and without its inconvenient softness.

151. AMERICAN BEECHES.— There are two of these:
1. The Red Beech {Fagus Ferrugina) ; 2. The Whitk
Beech (Fagits Sylvestris). These differ from each other
in the colour of the bark, and in the size, and a little in the
shape, of the leaf. I have seen trees of both sorts very
lofty and big; but I have always understood, that the
grain of the wood is not so fine as that of our own Beech.

THZ: BZZICH.

In Latin, Betula ; in French, Boideau.

152. The Botanical characters are the same, in all respects, as those of
The Alder, which see in paragraph 93.

153. Of American Birches there are no less than five
distinct varieties ; but, as the instructions applicable to the
English Birch apply equally well to all these, 1 shall, under
this first head, give all the instructions that I think neces-
sary, relative to this kind of tree.

154. The Birch is, in this country, seldom a large tree,

The Birch,

or a lofty oiiGj though, if desirable, it might, doubtless, be
made to become both large and lofty. But, as timber, it
yields the superiority to so many others, and, as underwood,
to so few, that it is seldom (unless for mere ornament)
cultivated, except in the latter character. Many, hoAvever,
are its good qualities. Its chief uses are in hoops and
brooms, though its wood, when sufficiently large, might be
applied to some of the uses to which the wood of the Alder
is put. The Birch makes but a poor hop-pole j and, as a
stake, it will hardly stand a year. In quality it is inferior
to the Hazel in hoops, in hurdles, in rods ; but it grows
a great deal faster, more straight, and produces a much
more abundant crop. It will, too, not only grow, but
thrive, in any soil or situation, and does, in this respect,
far surpass all other trees. It will flourish on the top of a
bank of pure sand or gravel, and it will also flourish in
a bog. It is the first tree in leaf in the i^j)ring; and, where
it abounds, its verdure, which is peculiarly gay, glads the
eye more than ten days before the buds have begun to send
forth green from the other sorts of underwood.

155. The SEED of the Birch resembles, in all respects,
that of the Aldkr, for a description of which, and for di-
rections as to the collecting and preserving the seed, see
paragraphs 96 and 97; only I may add here, that the seed
of the Birch and of the Alder, will, if kept constantly dry,
keep good for several years.

156. But as to the SOWING of these seeds, the directions
are here to be given, and these are to serve also for sowing
the seeds of the Alder. The seed is a very minute flat
thing, surrounded by a sort of web, or wing ; and, unless
great pains be bestowed, it will not come up. I took, for
several successive years, infinite pains to raise American

The Birch.

Birches from seed, and I always failed. Miller had
taught me, ihat I iiiust cover the seed very lightly ; but
though I did this with earth ])assed through a sieve that
made it as fine as flour, I got, on an average, not a phuit
in a yard square, though I sowed in the shade, and watered,
and neglected no precaution tending to success.

157. Tlie Birch does not send out sndiers; and, as it can-
not be propagated by cuttings, like the Alder, the young
plants, wherewith to make new plantations, are got from
tlie ic oods ; are pulled up there when young, and are put
into plantations at once, or are previously placed in a
nursery for a short time. In the birch- woods abundance
of seeds fall every year, and are of course never covered by
any earth at all. They must generally fall upon, or amongst,
leaves; but some few remain on the bare ground. Here,
in the shade of summer, they strike ; and they barely exist
in this shaded state, imtil the coppice he cut. Then they
have sun and air; and while the old stems are sending up
their new shoots, these seedlings get up too ; and before
they be completely overtopped again, they become plants
a foot or two liigh. Tliey, when they become shaded again,
make little progress in height, but increase something in
size of stem. When the wood is next cuty the hook sweeps
them doM'n amongst the rest, and then they send up strong
shoots; they start with the old stems, and take their place
as underwood.

158. The last summer (18'27), having failed in all my
attempts to raise plants from American seed, I, reflecting
on this operation in the woods, determined to try some
seed on the top of the ground, and wider shade. In order to
insure the shade and the moisture, and, at the same time,
to insure protection against heavy rains and gusts of wind.

The Birch.

I prepared some ground, on which I put cucumber-frames;
and, in these frames, the bed of earth having been sifted
very finely, I sowed my seed in the following- manner : — I
first put it into icarm water, and let it soak for forty-eight
hours: I then mixed it well and truly with earth very
finely sifted, making the whole rather icet. 1 laid the mix-
tnrc in a heap, which I turned every day for about four or
five days, until I saw here and there a seed beginning to
throw out its root. I then took the mixture, and scattered
it (seed and earth together) on the beds that I had prei)ared,
gently watering the bed, and shading it with a mat, giving
air in the day-time, and, when no rain or wind threatened,
taking off all covering during the night.

159. In about a week, 1 saw the seeds, which lay on the
top of the ground, beginning to send out their roots, and
to send them down into the ground. As the root descended,
the seed rose up from the ground; and at the end of about
four days, it was most curious, and, to me, most delightful,
to behold, the whole bed covered with the little brown
seeds standing up, sustained by the root. In about four
days more, the leaves " shuflled off the mortal coil," and
the bed was all one beautiful green.

160. It was pretty nearly July before I resorted to this
method, so that the plants were still very small, v.'hen over-
taken by Autumn, and, of course, too small for sale this
year ; but, by one transplanting, they will be made very
fine plants. After the plants become green, you must still
continue to shade under a hot snn, until they be fairly out
in rough leaf; but when they arrive at that point, they
are safe.

161. Here is a great deal of nicety and attention required;

The Birch.

but consider, that a cucumber-frame, of three or four lights,
will give you from ten to twenty thousand trees, with as
much certainty as you can have any plant of any kind.
From the seed-bed the plants go into a nursery, where they
are treated in precisely the same manner as directed for
treating the seedlings of the Ash.

162. For the want of knowing how to manage the seed-
beds of this tree, recourse is had to the coppices; and I
venture to say, that one thousand plants obtained in that
way, must, on an average of cases, cost as much as the
raising often thousand, in the manner above directed; be-
sides that the plants from the coj)[)ices must necessarily
be poor scrubby things compared with those raised in beds.

163. The PLANTING OUT of the Birch is performed
in precisely the same way as that directed in the case of the
Ash. Four feet each way is quite thick enough; and the
produce, if the plantation be duly attended to, is very great;
for the shoots of the Birch grow erect; great numbers
come out of a stem ; they grow fost ; and they suffer from
nothing but actually cropping or breaking off.

164. As to FELLING, the Birch, like all other under-
woods, is cut when the leaf is off. The finer spray is selected
for brooms; tiie straight rods for barrel hoops, or hurdles;
the short and stout and straiglit parts, for broom handles; and
the rough stuff for fagots, or fuel, in some shape or other.
The better the gi'ound, the faster the shoots will grow, and
the sooner they will be fit to cut; but the Birch ought not
to stand till it become poles ; for, as such, it is good for
very little. Where there Is Birch, there ought, in the same
underwood, to be notli'wg but Birch; because, if with Hazel,
for instance, it ought to be cut sooner than the Hazel, and

The Birch.

tills cannot be, for all must stand or be felled together; so
that, where there is a mixture, the Birch, waiting for the
Hazel, gets to be too big before it be cut : it is a pole, by the
time that the Hazel becomes a rod. In the case of the Jsh,
the mixture does no harm ', for, though it outstrips every
thing of English underwood, it is useful in all its stages;
and the bigger it is the more it is valuable.

165. I have here been speaking only of the E)2gUsh
Birch; but the thing to be desired is, a general introduc-
tion of the American Birches. As to their seed, their pro-
pagation, their cultivation, and their application, they have
nothing different from ours. They are equally hardy too,
and equally regardless of soil and situation. But they grow
still faster than ours ; they exceed ours in stralghtness ; and
they all grow to trees, like an Oak or an Ash. Miller
strongly recommends them in preference to our own; and,
as his book was published more than half a century back,
and as it was, and is, a book of great repute, the reason of
his advice having been neglected, is to be found, doubtless,
in difficulty of raising plants from the seed, a difficulty which
my successful experience has now completely removed.

lf>6. The American Birches are, 1. The White Birch
(Betula Popidifolia) ; 2. The Black Birch {Betula Lenta) ;
3. The Red Birch {Betula Rubra) ; 4. The Yellow Birch
{Betula Lutea) ; 5. The Canoe-Birch Betula Pnpyracea.
Of the size of these trees, the reader may judge from the
name of the latter, which has been given to it because the
Indians make their canoes with the bark of it, by taking off
the bark, in one whole piece, and making a canoe of it,
sometimes sufficient to carry, very conveniently, ten or
twelve persons. Nothing can be easier than the importing
of the seeds of these trees, which grow in great quantities

The Cedar.

ill all Northern parts of the United States, in Canada, New
Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The katkins are collected
when ripe, made very dry, and may be brought to England
in barrels, or bags; and as the seed, if kept in a dry state,
will be as good at the end of two years as at the end of one
year, it may be brought to England at any time of the year,
and safely kept till the suitable occasion for sowing arrive.

In Latin, Junipertcs ; in French, Cedre.

167. The botanical characters are : It has male and female flowers in
different plants, and sometimes at separate distances on the same plant. The
male flowers g^row on a conical katkin ; the flowers are placed by threes, two
of them fastened along the common tail opposite, terminated by a single
one; the scales are broad, short, lying over each other, and fixed to the
column by a tery short foot-stalk. The flower has no petal, but three sta-
mina in the male flower, which are joined in one body below, having three
distinct summits, adhering to the scales of the lateral flowers. The female
flowers have a small three -pointed empalement, sitting upon the germen,
which is permanent; they have three stiff", acute, permanent petals ; the ger-
men sitting below the empalement, supports three single styles, crowned by
stigmas. The germen afterwards becomes a roundish berry, inclosing three
stony seeds, which are oblong and angular on one side, but convex on the
other.

168. Miller reckons thirteen varieties of the Cedar; but,
as I am to treat of only such trees as are fit for forestSj
or icoocls, I shall mention but two : the RED CEDAR and
the WHITE CEDAR; both suited to our climate, both
hardy, both of great utility, and both thriv'wg upon lands
(the one on the dry and arid, and the other on the very
wet), M'here hardly any other tree will even live. Lofty
evergreens arc, above all other trees, wanted in England ;

The Cedar.

and these two trees, besides their other numerous valuable
(|ualitics, give us this thing which is so desirable.

169. Concerning the RED CEDAR {Juniperus Virgi-
niana), I will first give what Michaux, in his American
Sylva, says upon the subject ; and then I will give an
account of my own experience in the raising of the
plants.

170. " The foliage is evergreen, numerously subdivided,
" and composed of small sharp scales enchased in one
" another. It diffuses a resinous aromatic odour when
" bruised ; dried and reduced to powder, it has the same
" effect as the common Juniper, of increasing the
" efficacy of blistering plasters. The male and female
" flowers are small, not conspicuous, and borne separately
" on the same or on different stocks. The seeds are small
" ovate berries, bluish when ripe, and covered with a
" white exudation. They arrive at maturity about the
" beginning of the fall, and, if sown immediately, the
" greater part of them shoot the following spring, but not
" before the second year, if they are kept several months.
" The quantity of gin made from them in the United States
" is small, compared with what is imported from Holland.
" The name of Red Cedar is descriptive only of the per-
" feet wood, which is of a bright tint; the sap is perfectly
" white. The most striking peculiarity in the vegetation
*' of the Red Cedar is, that its branches, which are nume-
" rous and close, spring near the earth, and spread hori-
" zontally, and that the lower limbs are, during many
" years, as long as the body of the tree. The trunk de-
" creases so rapidly, that the largest stocks rarely afford
" timber for ship-building, of more than eleven feet in
" length. Its diameter is very much diminished by deep

The Cedar.

" oblong crevices in every part of the trunk, whicli are
" occasioned by the larg:e branches persisting after they are
" dead. My own observations and experiments lead me
" to believe that the growth of the tree might be quick-
" ened, and this deformity prevented, by cutting the limbs
" even -with the trunk for two-thirds of its height. The
" wood is odorous, compact, fine-grained, and very light,
" though heavier and stronger than that of the White
" Cedar and Cypress. To these qualities it unites the
" still more precious character of durability, and is con-
" sequently highly esteemed for such objects as require it
" in an eminent degree. But as it is procured with diffi-
" culty, and is every day becoming scarcer, it is reserved
" exclusively for the most important uses. The reproduc-
*' tion is too trifling to be mentioned in comparison with
" the consumption in the ports of the United States at
" large, and particularly at New York, Philadelphia, and
" Baltimore. In the upper part of the frame of vessels it
*' is joined with the Live Oak, to compensate its excessive
" weight; and this usage, more than any other, has wasted
*Hhe species. Recourse is now had to the coast of East
*' Florida, between the St. INIary and the St. John, which
'* will soon be exhausted in its turn. The nearer the Red
" Cedar grows to the sea, and the farther southward, the
*^ better is its wood. Next to ship-building, it is most
" commonly used for posts, ^vhich are highly esteemed,
" and are reserved for inclosing court-yards and gardens in
" the cities and their vicinity. The barriers of the side-
" walks, in the streets of Philadelphia, are made of this
" wood : they are ten or eleven feet long, and eight inches
■*' in diameter, and are sold at eighty cents each, while those
"^^ of Wh[te Cedar cost only sixteen or seventeen cents. It
*' is eminently fitted for subterranean water-pipes, but is
" rarely employed, from the difficulty of obtaining stocks of

The Cedar.

" a sufficient diameter. Small romid or oval tubs, very
" neatly wrought and hooped with brass, are made with
*' staves consisting partly of the sap and partly of the
" heart. I have observed that the turners at Philadelphia
" make the large stop-cocks of this wood. In the southern
" states it is commonly chosen for coffins."

171. 1 have imported the berries of this Cedar. They
are about the size of a common field pea; each contains
three hard seeds, the three being covered with a resinous
pulp. I sowed a parcel in March, 1826, and they came up
early in March, 182/, having been sent from America in
the early part of 182G, in a barrel, in which they were
mixed with dry sand. They were sowed in the manner
that 1 have directed for the sowing of the Ash. They ought
to stand another yea?' in the seed-bed, and, after a year, or
two at most, in nursery (put in in the manner directed for the
Ash), they might go into plantations. But, at every stage,
great care ought to be taken in removing them. The same
may be observed of all evergreens ; for they all transplant
with more risk than diciduous trees. — See, as to transplant-
ing and pruning of roots, paragraph 215, which must be
particularly attended to.

172. The Rkd Cedar is surpassed by no wood in light-
ness, and yet it yields not even to the Locust or the Live-
Oak in dnrahiUty. Many are the instances, in Long Island,
where you see posts of this wood that must have stood for a
century or more, though exposed to the w^eather all the
while. These trees grow on the very barrenest and most
exposed parts of the coast, where no other trees will even
live. In winter time, in many parts of that country, their
boughs are a great rcsourse for the feeding of ewes that
have lambs, in the absence of all other green or moist food.

H

The Cedar.'

This is so niiicli tlie case, that the Chancellor Livingston

(ambassador in France about twenty years ago), in a book
Which he wrote on the management of sheep, has a long
passage upon this species of sheep-food ; which, indeed, I
used to thus apply myself, and with very great success.
These trees would thrive on any of the poorest of our hills
of chalk, of sand, of gravel, or of rock. Nothing can be
easier to raise, and nothing more easily to be obtained than
the seed.

173. WHITE CEDAR {Cupressus Thyoides)— This tree,
which appears to have been unknown to Miller, would seem
to be something half way between a Cedar and a Cypress; for
it does not bring its seed in a berry, after the manner of the
Cedar, but in a little dry co7ie, not larger than a marrow-fat
pea; but, while it has three seeds in each cone, the cone
is not, like that of the Deciduous Cypress, globular, but has
little squares imprinted upon its surface. The cone is so
compact, that, unless quite ripe, you must actually thump it
with something hard and heavy to get out the seeds ; but,
if ripe, or nearly so, and laid in a warm sun, or near a fire,
the cones will open and the seed come out.

174. The SOWING ought to take place as soon after you
get the seeds (in the fall or winter) as the ground can be
made to work. The manner of sowing is that of the Red
Cedar, except that these seeds must not have more than
an inch of covering. These seeds also do not come up till
the second year ; the plants are to be treated, in all their
stages, like those of the Red Cedar. But pay further parti-
adar attention to paragraph 215.

175. But, as to soil and situation, this tree wholly differs
from the Red Cedar ; for this tree loves wet land, and even

Ths Cedab.

a swamp ; and not only a swamp, but a swamp covej-ed by
every ftpring-iide, even where the water is saltish; a thing
that agrees with no other tree that I know of: for even
the Jldei' will not live if frequently visited by water that
is what is called brackish. In the account which I am
about to give from Michaux, a good deal is said about
the height, size,' and uses of this most vakiable and beau-
tiful tree ; to which I will just add, that it covers, in the
shape of shingles, almost all the good houses in the United
States: painted, this covering will last a hundred years ;^
and, unpainted, thirty-five or forty. The tree is straight as
a gun-stick, and it has all the other characteristics of
beauty. The seed is easily obtained ; and how many now
worthless moors and morasses, in this kingdom, might, at
a very moderate expense, be covered with w^oods of this
valuable timber !

1/6. What Michaux says of this tree is as follows : —
" The White Cedar grows only in wet grounds. In the
" maritime districts of New Jersey, Maryland, and Vir-
" ginia, it nearly fills the extensive marshes which lie
" adjacent to the salt-meadows, and are exposed in high
" tides to be overflowed by the sea. In New Jersey it
" covers almost alone the whole surface of the swamps, of
" which the Tupelo and Red Maple occupy the skirts.
" Farther south it is mingled with the Cypress, by which it
" is at length entirely supplanted. In Lower Jersey and
" Maryland the swamps are accessible only during the
" dryest part of the summer, a«d when they are frozen in
" the winter. The trees stand so thick in them, that the
"light can hardly penetrate the foliage j and in their
*• gloomy shade spring, at every step, tufts of the Dwarf
" Rose Bay, Honeysuckle, and Andromeda. The luxuriant
" vegetation proves that they delight in dark and humid

h2

The Cedar.

" exposures. The White Cedar is seventy or eighty feet
" high, and rarely more than three feet in diameter, unless
" perhaps in the great swamps which have not been tho-
" roughly explored, such as the Dismal Swamp near Nor-
" folk, in Virginia, which is covered with this species and
" the Cypress. When the White Cedars are close and
" compressed, the trunk is straight, perpendicular, and
" destitute of branches to the height of fifty or sixty feet :
" they are observed to choose the centre of the swamps,
" and the Cypresses the circumference. The epidermis is
*^ very thin on the young stocks j but, as they grow older,
" it becomes thick, of a soft filaceous texture, of a reddish
" colour, and similar to that of an old Vine. When cut, a
" yellow transparent resin, of an agreeable odour, exudes,
" of which a few ounces could hardly be collected in a
" summer from a tree of three feet in circumference. The
" foliage is evergreen; each leaf is a little branch, nume-
" rously subdivided, and composed of small, acute, imbri-
" cated scales, on the back of which a minute gland is dis-
" cerned with the lens. In the angle of these ramifications
" grow the flowers, which are scarcely visible, and which
" produce very small rugged cones of a greenish tint, which
" changes to bluish towards the fall, when they open to
" release the fine seeds. The concentrical circles are
" always perfectly distinct, even in stocks of considerable
" size, but their number and compactness prove that the
'' tree arrives at its full growth only after a long lapse of
" years. I have counted 2/7 annual layers in a trunk
" twenty-one inches in diameter, and five feet from the
" ground, and forty-seven in a plant only eight inches thick
" at the surface, which proved it to be already fifty years
"old. I w'a&,told that the swamp in which it grew had
" been burnt at least half a century before, and had been
" rcpcoplcd from a few stocks that escaped the conflagra-

The Cedar.

" tion, or perhaps by the seeds of the preceding year. The
" wood is light, soft, fine-grained, and easily wrought.
" When perfectly seasoned, and exposed for some time to
" the light, it is of a rosy hue. It has a strong aromatic
" odour, which it preserves as long as it is guarded from
" humidity. The perfect wood resists the succession of
" dryness and moisture longer than that of any other spe-
"ciesj and for this quality principally, as well as its ex-
" treme lightness, it is preferred at Baltimore and Phila-
" delphia for shingles, which are cut transversely to the
" concentrical circles, and not parallel, like those of the
" Cypress. They are from twenty-four to twenty-seven
" inches long, from four to six inches broad, and three lines
" thick at the larger end. l.n the advertisements of Balti-
" more they are called Juniper Shingles, and are sold at
" four or five dollars a thousand. At Philadelphia and
" Baltimore they are generally preferred to those of Cy-
" press, as they are larger and are free from the defects of
" splitting when nailed upon the rafters. The houses in
" those cities, as well as in New York and the smaller cir-
" cumjacent towns, are covered with them ; they usually
" last thirty or thirty-five years. The domestic consump-
" tion is great, and the exportation to the West Indies is
" estimated at several millions. The White Cedar has
" long ceased to be employed for the frames of houses :
" stocks of sufiicient dimensions are rare, and are more
" profitably reserved for shingles and for other works of
"joinery, for which this species is superior to the White
" Pine, being still more durable and more secure from
" worms. It continues to be used in building only near
*' the great swamps, in which it abounds, as about Greategg
" Harbour and Indian River in New Jersey, and near the
" Dismal Swamp in Virginia. The superior fitness of this
" wood for various household utensils has given rise, in

The Cedar.

" Philadelphia, to a distinct class of mechanics called Cedar
•" Coopers, and a great number of workmen are employed
" for the domestic and foreign market. They fabricate,
"principally, pails, washtubs, and churns, of different
" forms. This ware is cheap, light, and neatly made; and
" instead of becoming dull, like that of other wood, it grows
*' whiter and smoother by use. The hoops are made of
" young Cedars, stripped of the bark and split into two
" parts. The saplings are appropriated exclusively to this
" object, and vary in price from live to fifteen dollars a
" thousand, accordirig to their length : the largest are two
*' inches thick at the base, and eleven or twelve feet long.
" At the mouth of the river Cape Fear, the pilots and fisher-
** men cover the sides of their boats with clap-boards of
" WnrrE Ceda«, which they prefer to those of Cypress, as
*' being lighter, more durable, and less liable to split. I
" have been assured that this wood, selected with care,
" makes excellent sound-boards for forte-pianos. The
" merchants of Philadelphia find it best for preserving oils.
** Charcoal, highly esteemed in the manufactory of gunpow-
^' der, is made of young stocks about an inch and a half in
" diameter, deprived of their bark ; and the seasoned wood
*^ affords beautiful lamp-black, lighter and more intensely
" coloured, though less abundant, than that obtained from
*' the Pine. In the lumber-yards of Philadelphia, White
" Cedar boards from New Jersey, ten or twelve feet long,
" and of a mean breadth less than thirteen inches, are sold
** at twenty dollars a thousand feet. In New Jersey, not far
" from Philadelphia, the farmers on the borders of the
" Cedar Swamp employ this tree for field-fence : the rails,
*' formed of young stocks, entire or split in the middle, last
" from fifty to sixty years when deprived of the bark : they
" are sold at six or eight dollars a hundred, and the stocks
" proper for posts at twelve or fifteen cents a-piece.

The Cherry.;

" Swjunps which pro(hice the White Cedar iire a vahiiible
" species of property, and might be rendered more prollt-
" able by more judicious management."

In Latin, Cerasus ; in French, Cerisier.

177. The Botanical characters are : — The flower has a bcU-shajjed enipale-
iiient of one leaf, cut into five parts ; it has five round large petals, which
spread open, and are inserted in the empalcment ; and from twenty to thirty
stamina, which are nearly as long as the petals, and are also inserted in the
empalenient, terminated by twin summits. It has a roundisis germen, sup-
porting a slender style, crowned by an orbicular stigma. The germen turns
afterwards to a roundish fruit, enclosing a nut of the same form.

178. lam not about to speak of the /naf-trees of this
species; but solely of those trees which are useful as timber,
and these are three in number; 1. Our native wild cherry ;
the American wild red cherry, and the American wild black
cheiry.

179. The ENGLISH WILD CHERRY tree, which
bears a little blackish and sometimes reddish fruit, will
grow to a great size; it grows fast; its trunk is very
straight, and its timber is pretty good ; being better, at any
rate, than that of the Beech, or of the Elm, for boards; and,
indeed, it is not amiss for the making of furniture, being
of a reddish colour, compact, and admitting of a fine polish.
As underwood, it is not good ; in poles, it is of bad shape ;
and nothing like equal to the Ash in quality. It is wholly
unfit for hoops, hurdles, stakes, or any other of the most
profitable uses of underwood. If stems of it be met with
in our coppices, I have always seen their produce cut up

The Cherry.

The wood of this tree is beautiful in household furniture:
it is of a light brick colour, very hard, very durable, and
admits of as fine a polish as mahogany; and is, whether in
tables, chairs, bedsteads, or any other thing, much more
beautiful. It is a fast-growing tree ; its leaves are long,
smooth, and of a very bright green ; and, as a flowering tree,
it yields to scarcely any.

188. The SEED of this tree is a little oblong cherry-
stone, which, as to collecting, preserving, and sowing, is
to be treated precisely like the stones of our wild cherry.
The Americans gather the fruit for the making of cherry-
rum, or hrandij, for which purpose it is preferred to the
common black cherry, Avhich Me call 3Ierri€s, that being a
corruption of the Norman term Mer'ise. But, though this
tree is as hardy as any other of the Cherry kind, thriving
as it does, even on the sea coast, in the Northern parts of
the United States ; and, though it will blow very finely in
England, its seed never does, I believe, ripen here, and
must therefore be obtained from America, as it easily may,
making a barrel supply the place of the shed, or the cellar,
for keeping the seed till the sowing season arrive.

189. These trees, when they come out of the nursery,
ought to be put into plantations, at four feet apart; for,
in that situation, they will grow erect, which they are apt,
sometimes, not to do, if they have room to straggle. They
ought to be kept pruned up, as directed in the case of the
other Cherries, in paragraph 183. As to cutting down the
year after planting, see paragraphs 127 and 149.

In Latiiij Castanea ; in French, Chdtaignier.

190. The Botauical characters are : — It has male and female flowers on the
same tree, sometimes at separate distances, and, at other times, near each
other. The male flowers are fixed to a long striuij, forming a sort of kat-kiu ;
these have each an euipalement of one leaf, cut into five parts ; they have no
petals, but include about ten or t\velve bristly stamina, terminated by oblon"-
summits. The female flowers have a'fo an empalenieut of one leaf, divided
into four parts, having no petals, but a germen fixed to the empalenieut,
supports three styles, crowned by a reflexed stigma. The germen, wiiich is
situated at the base of the empaknient, becomes a roundish iruit, armed
with soft spines, including one or more nuts,

191. There are dis-ers sorts of Chesnuts ; but I need
mention only two of these sorts, these being the only ones
fit for timber trees or underwood; namely, the Spanish
Chesnut and the American Chesnut. There are, indeed,
divers varieties of what we call the Horse Chesnuts ; and as
our Horse Chesnut always will be cultivated more or less,
I shall speak of that bye-and-bye.

192. THE SPANISH CHESNUT.— This is a tree not
remarkable for great height; but it comes to a considerable
size, and its timber is thought to be, in many respects,
equal to that of our Oak. Thei'e are indubitable signs of
its having been a tree much cultivated in England in former
times : — the roofing of Westminster Hall is said to consist
of Chesnut wood, which is also to be found in almost all of
those gentlemen's mansion-houses, si'ch great numbers of
which existed in England formerly, and so very few
of which the Protestant Reformation, aided so materially by
the loaning and funding and paper-money system, has left

The Chesnut.

standing in any part of the kingdom. This tree has, how-
ever, been supplanted by the Oak, as timber; but as under-
wood it is excellent, while the Oak, as underwood, is really
good for nothing, except for fuel ; and, even as fuel, it yields
to almost every other tree, until the wood be of a consider-
able size.

193. The SEED of the Chesnut is to be collected, pre-
served, and sowed, in precisely the same manner as directed
for the seed of the Beech, to which the reader will be
pleased to turn back; but the. seed of the Chesnut is much
more delicate than that of the Beech, and maggots are
much more apt to get into it. These insects have the per-
verseness to prefer the germ of the seed to all other parts
of it; the moment they enter they begin upon the germ,
and the moment they begin upon it they destroy the vege-
tative faculty of the .«ccd. Therefore, if you collect your
own seed, the greatest possible care must be taken to make
it perfectly dry as soon as possible; not to put it into large
parcels; you ought to turn it and rub it several times in
order to destroy the eggs from which the maggots come.
When the seed is perfectly dry, made so in the sun, if
j)ossib]e, it ought to be packed in jars or barrels, along
with very dry sand, four times as much sand as chesnuts,
and duly mixed; and then the jars or barrels ought to be
closed down as carefully as if containing currant-jelly or
choice pickled pork.

194. The SOWING ought not to take place until
towards the end of March or the beginning of April. The
manner of sowing is that described in the case of the Beech.
The earth should be very finely broken, and the seeds, after
being scattered over the beds, ought to be well pressed
down by the back of the spade, in order that they may not

The Chesnut.

become exposed by the washings of heavy rains. They
come up in the month of May, and they get, by the month
of October, to be about six or seven inches high, with
leaves pretty nearly as large as those of the old tree.

195. If the seeds be imported, you run great risks ; for
they may have been put into an oven, in order to prevent
their heating on the voyage ; and, nine times out of ten,
that will destroy the germ, though the nut may still be very
good for eating. If the nuts have been put in heaps, or
packages, and have at all fermented, they will not grow.
I received several barrels, three years ago, in a very fine
state, mixed Avith sand, perfectly dry. In order to put
them in a state of greater security, I deemed it advisable
to lay them in a heap in the garden, separated from their
sand, and covered over with a foot thick of mould. My
ground was not ready, and I feared that they would get too
dry before I could conveniently sow them. But, deprived
of their sand, and being put together in a heap, the moisture
that remained in them caused them to heat and to moidd.
I examined the germs of them, and found them all rotten.
I sowed them, however, but had not one single plant, when
I ought to have had twenty, or perhaps fifty, thousand ;
and I have invariably found, that if seed, no matter of what
sorj/ once ferment, be it ever so little, it will not grow.
This is almost always the case with acorns that have to be
conveyed from one place to the other; and it is for this
reason that they ought always to be made very dry ; and,
for fear of their becoming icithered, and the destruction of
the germ produced this way, they ought always to be
])acked in very dry sand.

196. As to the TRANSPLANTING from the seed-bed
to the nursery, and from the nursery to the plantation,

The CHEs:fUT,

follow, in all respects, the directions given in the case of
the Ash. IfCuBSNUTS be intended for timber, they ought
to be planted in rows of four feet apart, and at four feet
apart in the row, the plants in one I'ow standing opposite
the middle of the intervals in the other row, which indeed
ought to be the case in the planting of all other trees. As
to managing the ground of the plantation, follow the rules
laid down in the case of the Ash; and as to cutting down
the plants the year after they are planted, and also as to
pruning, see paragraphs 127 and 149.

197. When UNDERWOOD is the object in a planta-
tion of Chesnuts, the rows ought to be five feet apart at
the least, and the plants five feet apart in the I'ow. The
Chesnut stem spreads wider and requires more room than
that of the Birch, the Hazel, or even of the Ash. As
underwood, the Chesnut is useful, chiefly as poles, of which
it produces very good ones, lasting as long or longer, as
hop-poles, than the Ash; but it does not grow so fast as
the Ash, and, unless great care be taken, has some disad-
vantages unknown to the Ash. It sends out stout side-
shoots, coming opposite each other; and this makes a great
swell in the middle of the pole, and causes the upper part
of the pole to diminish in size too rapidly. Then, to get a
Chesnut pole any where between twelve and twenty feet in
length, there will always be a disproportionate butt ; the butt
will be too large in proportion to the top of the pole. This,
in hop-poles, for which purpose Chesnuts are generally em-
ployed, is a disadvantage that none but skilful hop-planters
can know of. The bine of the hop (and it is the same with
all other climbing plants) do not like to have a big thing to
go round at starting. Tlie reason of this I do not very well
know ; but of the fact I am cpiite sure. I suppose the
reason to be that, in going roiuid so large a thing, the

The Chesnut.

point of the bine is kept, at certain times, too long from
tlie sun. At any rate, such is the fact; and, if you take two
hop-bines coming out of the same hill, and out of the same
plant, and being exactly of the same age and strength, and
put one to a pole which is three inches through, and another
to a pole which is two inches through, you will see the
latter not only mount a great deal faster than the former,
but be, and continue to be throughout the summer, much
more vigorous, and finally to produce a better crop. This
fact is well known to all intelligent hop-planters, some of
whom, in order to obviate the injury arising from large-
butted poles, stick in little rods as leaders, to conduct the
bine to the pole, at two or three feet from the ground.

198. For this reason the Chesnut Poles ought to be so
managed, as to be kept as small as possible at the butt.
This object is best insured by crowding, by pruning the
side shoots, and by thus sending the sap towards the top of
the plant. No body prunes underwood ; but it would pay
very well, especially in the case of the Chesnut. As many
shoots as come out, ought to be left to grow from the stem,
which naturally tend to diminish the size of the butts ;
while taking oif the side shoots, to six or seven feet from
the ground, would cause the top of the pole to be stouter
in proportion to the bottom. When Chesnut coppices are
cut down, the cutting, as mentioned in the case of the
Ash, and is to be understood with regard to all other under-
woods, ought to be as close to the ground as possible, and
always with an upward, and not with a downward, stroke
of the hook or axe.

199. AMERICAN CHESNUT.— This is far more lofty
than I have ever seen any of the Spanish Chesnuts. It
frequently rises to the height of a hundred feet; and I liave

The Chesnut.

seen four trunks coming out of one old stem, wliich had
been the support of a very large tree, each of the four mea-
suring more than a hundred feet in lengtli, and that, too,
in very poor but light land ; and I must here observe, which
perhaps I ought to have done before, that the Chesnut does
not like wet land. The better the ground, doubtless, the
faster the growth ; but Chesnuts will thrive very well in
poor dry land.

200. The seed of the American Chesnut is not much
more than a fourth part of the size of the Spanish Chesnut,
but it is sweeter in flavour. The timber is e<|ually good,
and tlie American is much the best for underwood, being
of faster growth, and in its nature so much taller, and so
much less prone to be stouter at the butt in proportion to
the summit. To collect and send the seeds from America
is somewhat expensive j but the superiority of the plant
over the Spanish Chesnut is mere than a sufficient induce-
ment to planters to encounter this expense.

201. As to the sowing of the seeds, the management of
them in the seed-bed, the removal of them into the nurseiy,
and the final transplantion to the spot where they are to
stand, the directions just given with regard to the Spanish
Chesnut, all strictly apply; but I think ih^i four feet dis-
tances, in the planting of underwoods with these, would be
quite sufficient. They grow more erect than the others;
they do not require so much room ; they are apt to throw
out a less number of, and smaller, side shoots; therefore a
greater number of stems might stand upon the same space
of ground. The age at which a Chesnut Coppice ought to
be cut, must, of course, depend upon the growth, and the
growth upon the nature of the soil; but I am clearly of
opinion, that the American Chesnut would require a year

The Chesnut.

or two less of growth, to make hop- poles, than the Spanish
Chesnut, planted on the same spot. With regard to tlie
cutting down of the plants, the next year after they are
planted out, and with regard to the pruning of them for
timber-trees, see paragraphs 12/ and 149.

202. Chesnut (Horse). This tree, which is sometimes
very large and very lofty, and though the timber of it is
poor, the leaf coarse, and soon becoming brown in the sum-
mer, and though the tree will never be cultivated for
profit, it is certainly one of the finest flowering trees in the
world. There are several varieties of it, in several parts of
the world. There are two distinct sorts in America, one
having a scarlet, and the other a yellow blossom ; but these
not being fit for forest-trees in England, and being, in fact,
mere ornamental shrubs, or trees, I shall not notice them
here. The seed of the Horse Chesnut is collected in the
fall of the year, when the outside shell opens and lets it out.
The seed is preserved in the same manner, sown in the
same manner (only covered a little deeper), and the plants
are treated, in all their stages, in the same manner as above
directed for the Spanish Chesnut, except only that the
plants of this tree are naturally so stout at the butt, and
suffer so little from transplanting, that they need not be cut
down the second year. If, however, you wish for a straight
trunk, you must plant the tree after it has been a year or
two removed into the nursery; and if you wish for a clean
and long trunk, you must prune in the manner directed in
paragraphs 127 and 149.

TKS CRAB.

In Latin, Malus ; in French, Pommier Saavage.

203. The Botanical characters are : — The empaleinent of the flower is of
oue leaf, cut into five segments. The flower consists of five leaves, which
expand in the form of a rose, the tails of which are inserted In the enipale-
ment. The fruit, whicli is hollowed about the foot-stalk, is for the most
part roundish, and umbellated at the top ; it is fleshy, and divided into five
cells or partitions, in each of which is one oblong seed.

204. 1 am not about to recommend the planting, to any
extent, of this tree; but I notice it, because it is found in
all our woods, and because there are certain uses to whicli
it is put. The timber, which seldom attains a considerable
size, is excellent for the cogs of mill-wheels, for heads of
beetles, and for some other purposes, where the quality of
not being apt to split is required. As an underwood, it is
mere fuel, except for the making of walking-sticks and
clubs, in which capacities, especially when stout, it is pro-
verbially efficient. Allied to these functions is that, cer-
tainly n»ore useful, of its super-excellence in the making of
what the thrashers call the swingles of flails, it being capable
of wearing the stoutest man out, if he ply it well, and
during those parts of the year when there is thrashing to
do. In Hedges, it is very beautiful in the spring, and also
in independent trees ; for, in the month of May, it is a great
bush, or a little tree, covered with blos.soms as bright as
those of the Carnation, and a great deal larger. When the
coppices are cut, the Crabs, if they go up in a single stem,
are generally left as the Oaks are ; and, in the month of
May, the garlands i)resented by the Crab trees, while the
Primroses bespangle the ground beneath, and while the
birds arc singing all around, certainly give us, altogether,

The Crab.

sometliing more delightful than almost any thing else ac-
cessible to our senses.

205. But, as a Hedge, the Crab is too rugged ; its wood
becomes quickly too big ; there come openings at the bot-
tom, and the fence is not effectual for many of its purposes.
But if a Crab-plant were put in a Hawthorn hedge, along
with the Hawthorn-plants, and at every twenty or thirty
feet distance, and trained up to a single stem, and then
left to get a head, the bottom part of which should be about
two feet clear of the top of the hedge, the Crabs would not
injure the hedge, and would produce a very charming effect.

206. The SEED of the Crab is precisely like that of the
Apple ; and I am sure the reader has eaten too many apples
not to know what sort of things they are. To get these
seeds in order to sow them, you have nothing to do but to
take the pommice from the press where verjuice has been
made, or to gather up the crabs themselves when they
have dropped from the tree, mash them to pieces by some
means or other, and sow them, pommice and all, in just
the same manner as directed for the sowing of the Ash.
This work may be done in November, or at any time be-
tween that or the end of March.

207. The management in the seed-beds, and all the sub-
sequent operations, including that of planting out, are just
the same as those pointed out for the Ash. The plants ought
to be cut down the year after planting; and if you want them
to go up with a single stem, they ought to be pruned in
the manner directed in paragraph 149.

208. There is an American Ckab, the fruit of which
would pass for a winter-apple in England ; the leaf of

I 2

The Cyprks?.

which is of a very ornamental sliape, and that leaf dies in
the autumn of a bright scarlet colour, and in that colour
hangs upon the tree until nearly Christmas, as I have had
it hang in my garden in Kensington.

In Latin, Ciipi-essus Disticha ; in French, Cypre.

209. The botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers, at
distances, on the same plant ; the male flowers are formed into oval katkins,
in which the flowers are placed thinly, among several roundish scales, each
having a single flower. These have no petals nor stamina, but have four
summits, which adhere to the bottom of the scales. The female flowers are
formed in a roundish cone, each containing eight or ten flowers; the scales
of the cones are opposite, each having a single flower, these have no petals :
the germen is scarcely visible, but under each scale there are many punc«
tures or spots, and a concave truncated apex, instead of a style; this after-
wards becomes a globular cone, opening in an angular target-shaped scale,
under which are situated angular seeds.

210. This is one of the largest trees in the world. Mi-
CHAUX says that it frequently attains the height of one hun-
dred and twenty feet, and as frequently forty feet in cir-
cumference, at a considerable distance from the ground.
He says that Humboldt found several of these trees in
the ancient garden of the Emperor of Mexico, which were
planted there before the first arrival of the Spaniards in
that country. This tree deliglits, not in a swamp, but in
wet land on the borders of rivers, marshes, or swamps. Its
timber is better than that of the Pine, more close, finer
grained ; after being some time exposed to the air, it is of a
reddish colour, and it is of great strength and elasticity.
The tree, as an object of beauty, surpasses almost every
other. It drops its leaves in the fall, or, rather, in the win-

The CypRKSs.

ter ; but they come out again early in the spring, and hang
on till nearly Christmas, being of a reddish colour for six
weeks before they come off. The branches come out from
the sides of the tree like those of the Larch, but they are
more pendulous j the leaf is finer and brighter 5 it is much
thicker on the branch ; and the tree, taken altogether, is
certainly one of the very finest of vegetable productions.
In the time of Miller, there were but three or four of this
sort of tree in England. I myself never saw but one here ;
and that is now standing in the ornamental part of the
estate, at the farm-house of which I am now writing, and
which was an object of great beauty even so late as Christ-
mas day.

211. The SEED of this tree does not ripen in England;
but it is easily enough imported, and I have sold some thou-
sands of the trees this year. The cones came to me packed
up in barrels, mixed up with dry sand. We easily squeezed
them to pieces, and then sowed them, shells and all toge-
ther. They come up the first year, and attain the lieight
of about a foot before the month of October.

212. The SOWING is in beds, and the manner of doing
it the same that has been pointed out in the case of the
Ash, only that the covering: ought not to be of greater
thickness than an inch and a half. Great care ought to be
taken to keep the plants perfectly clear of weeds ; for they
suffer exceedingly if annoyed by them. About the middle
of summer the ground should be broken a little between
the plants, to favour the operation of the dews;, for it is
desirable that they grow as much as possible the first year.

213. The plants ought to be removed in the same manner,
but Avith very great care, as directed for the Ash ; if put

Tav. Cypress.

into plantations, the distances might be from five to six
feet apart ; keeping on catting out or thinning, as the
trees approach too near to the branches of each other; but
1 do not know that any priming would be necessary or pro-
per in this case. The yonng trees, when cut out, would
serve for poles or some other uses.

214. As to cutting down, the year after planting, though
this is really a deciduous tree, that perhaps would not be,
proper, and indeed I think it would not, though 1 have no
experience to guide me. This tree appears to be some-
thing between a Fir and a deciduous tree. It is resinous, and
I do not know whether, if cut down, it would throw out any
shoots at all. Great care must therefore be taken, that the
young plants do not lose their leading shoots, or, if they do,
to see that they have another leader as quickly as possible.
They are very apt to be nipped by the frosts in the seed-
bed, which is of not much consequence if you cut off the
dead part with a sharp knife, and make your cut sloping
opposite a bud, so that a new leader may come the
second year.

215. This tree, as well as the Cedars and all evergreens,
ought to be moved either early in the fall or late in the
spring, and with great ca4'e, kept out of the ground as short
a time as possible, and the roots not exposed to the sun or
to the wind. In the case of deciduous trees in general, it
does not signify much, if the tops of them be insufficiently
supplied with sap the first year ; because the next year they
are to be cut down to the ground, and the root will have
got strength sufficient to send up new shoots and put every
thing to rights. This is not the case with Evergreens : if
they be cut down, the root bistanthj di£s. For this reason,
also, there must be veinj little pnmitig of the roots in these

The Dogwood.

case?. The long and straggling roots may he taken off,
hut the fibres must not ; and the whole must go into the
ground again as entire as possible. This is a matter of
very great importance, and ought to be most strictly
attended to.

THE DOGWOOD.

In Latin, CornuS ; in French, Cornuiller.

216. The botanical characters are: — It has many flowers included in one
conunon four-leaved involucrum, which is coloured. The flowers have each
a small empalement, silting on the germen, which is indented in four parts.
They have four plain petals, which are smaller than the leaves of the involu-
crum, and four erect stamina, which are longer than the petals, terminated
by roundish summits. The round germen, situated below the empalement,
supports a slender style, crowned by an obtuse stigma. The germen after-
wanls becomes an oval or roundish berry, inclosing a nut, with two cells
having an oblong kernel.

217. There are several varieties of the Dogwood,
two or three of which are natives of America; but
these are merely flowering shmbs, and are used for orna-
mental purposes. The Dogwood that 1 have to speak of
is the underwood which, in our own coppices, goes by that
name. Till very lately, 1 always looked upon this as a
perfectly insignificant, or, rather, mischievous plant. It
will grow in very [xjor ground, to be sure ; but I never
saw it used for any other purpose than that of fuel, and
never saw it grow to any considerable size. I never saw it
formed into a hoop, a hurdle, a rod, or a stake. But of late
years it has been discovered that it makes the very best of
charcoal for using in the manufacturing of gunpowder ;
and, therefore, considering that we have such a thundering

The Dogwood.

standing army, which we cherish with so much assiduity,
and of which we have become so very proud, in this age of
the wonderful " march of intellect," this once despicable
plant now becomes of importance, and merits at least some
degree of our attention. That the wood is used foji^;the
purpose just mentioned, I am certain ; for I have seen great
quantities of it in Sussex, stripi)ed of its bark even up to the
ends of the small shoots, and tied up in bundles to be sent to
the powder-mills.

21 8. The tree, or, rather, the plant, is a very despicable-
looking thing, slender in stem, not quick of growth, naked
of foliage, and ugly as anything of the tree kind can possibly
be. It bears an insignificant flower, after which comes a
little oblong berry, the pulp of which covers a hard fur-
rowed stone of the same shape.

219. The SEED, if any one should be disposed to culti-
vate the plant, must be gathered in October or November,
which it may be in great abundance, and preserved in just
the same manner as directed for the cherry-stones. I do
not know whether the seed of our Dogwood comes up the
first year J but I know that that of the American Dogwood
does not. The best way is to sow the seed early in the year,
to keep the beds very clear from weeds, and to wait the
result. When the plants are up, they are, whether as to
removal into the nursery, putting into plantations, after
culture, cutting down the second year, to be treated in the
same manner as the Ash, and the seed is to be sowed in the
same manner as the Ash seeds.

220. But, as to the season of cutting a copi)ice of this kind,
if the l)ark ha to he taken off, as it must be for the making
of powder charcoal, the felling of the coppice ought not to

The Elder.

take place until the spring', wlien the sap is in full motion ;
because it is only then that the bark will come off. As in
the ca^e of the Oak, you must cut before the leaf comes
out ; that is to say, before any part of the sap is gone out of
the tree ; and yet you must not cut before the sap be in full
motion : you must cut before the buds have bursted out into
leaf, and yet not before they be nearly ready to burst. This,
therefore, is a nice point ; and as we live in a day when
gunpowder is considered as of such primary importance,
this point ought to be attended to. Whether the great
Creator of trees destined the Dogwood to make such a
respectable figure at last, is more than I can say ; but,
according to present appearances, this once despised and
abominated plant, which was a by-word amongst country
people, from whose contempt of it, doubtless, its name
arose, is in a fair way of becoming the 'premier amongst the
inhabitants of the woods.

In Latin, Samhucus ; in French, Surean.

221. The botanical characters are :— The flower has a small empalement
of one leaf, cut into five parts ; it has one concave wheel-shaped petal, cut
into five obtuse segments at the brim, which are reflexed, and five awl-
shaped stamina the length of the petal, terminated by roundish summits,
with an oval germen, situated under the flowers, having no style, in room of
which is a swelling gland crowned by three obtuse stigmas. The germen
afterwards becomes a roundish berry with one cell, including three angular
seeds.

222. The Elder tree is known, as to its form and appear-
ance ; as to its flowers and fruit; as to the uses of that fruit,
and the various uses of the leaves, the ilowers, and the bark,
in medicine : thus far this tree is known to every body, but

V

Thk Elder.

it may not be so well known to every body that it may be
raised from seed, as well as from cuttings; and that its
wood yields to that of very few trees, in point of compact-
ness, hardnesSj and durability. Elder-wood, when it attains
any size, is frequently made use of for inlaying, "jr the
making of rules, and for many of those purposes to which
the wood of the box is applied ; and it is not much inferior
to the box in point of fineness of grain, though it is not so
clear, and not quite so yellow, as the wood of the box.
There is scarcely any tree which shoots so far in a year, as
the Elder ; yet, even in its young state, it is a very hard
and durable wood. For the first year, the shoot is abso-
lutely hollow ; it is a piece of pith surrounded by a cnist of
wood; and every man knows that, when a boy, he has made
pop-guns of it; and most of the men now alive, who look
well at the consequences of other guns, that have brought
so much dignity to the Dogwood, must heartily wish that
the whole nation could return to the exclusive use of the
Elder. In the third year of its growth, however, the
wood gets rid of this pith ; and by the end of the fourth or
fifth year, the shoot will make a stake, the durability of
which has long been so proverbial, as to give rise to the
following couplet: —

** Au Elder stake and a Hazel heather
Will make a hedge to last for ever."

The reader must know, that the stakes are the upright
supporters of the hedge; but he may not so well know,
that the heather, which ought, perhaps, to be header, are the
rods which are put along on the top or head of the hedge,
to fasten the bushes, or other stuff, down*

223. The propagation of the Elder is generally, if not
always, by adtings (cut off any time between September

The Ej.df.r.

and March), little or big, stuck into the ground, In which
ground, Avhether dry or wet (if not absolutely in water), the
cutting is sure to become a tree, and that too in a very
little time. The Elder likes moist ground best ; and, like
other trees, it likes good ground better than bad, but it
will grow in any ground.

224. The SEED of the Elder is the little berry that it is
well known to bear in such great abundance. This seed,
if you mean to sow it, should be gathered when dead ripe;
should be put into sand, in the manner directed in the case
of the Cherry ; should be kept in that state until March,
and then sowed on beds, in the manner directed for the
Ash, only that the seed should not be covered with earth
more than an inch deep. The plants will come up in the
latter end of May, and will be a foot high in the fall of the
year. The after-treatment is to be just the same as that
directed for the Ash, until the plants be finally put out;
and as it is not here a question of plantations, there is no
occasion for speaking of distances. If you wish to have
them to grow tall and to have a clear stem, you must cut
them down and prune them, as directed in paragraphs 127
and 149.

225. I cannot conclude this article without expressing my
surprise, that no one appears ever to have cultivated the
Elder from seed. The reason why we always see them squat,
bushy-headed things, is, that they are always raised from
cuttings, that being the easiest Avay ; but we should always
remember, that a cutting is a branch of a tree; and that a
branch it must always continue, and never can become a
tree, with a regular butt and trunk. The reason why
Apple trees are invariably bushy-headed, is, that they are
branches of trees. The stem, indeed, may have come from

The Elm.

a seed, but the grafFis a branch, and from the grafF comes
the head of the tree. If the Elder were raised from the
seed, I have no doubt of its attaining a height equal to that
of the Horse Chesnut. At that height, its flowers would
make a grand show ; and as to the timber, it would, I verily
believe, be the rival of the Locust. Its hardness fits it for
many purposes, and great durability accompanies this
hardness.

226. There are several American Elders, varying from
each other in the size and shape of the leaf, and all varying
from ours. Michaux makes no mention of these Elders ;
but I have some plants of the American Red Elder now
growing in my garden.

THE ELDIE.

In Latin, Ubnus; in French, Orme.

227. The botanical characters are : — The flower has a rough permanent em-
palement of one leaf, cut at the rim into five points, and coloured within ;
it has no petals, but has five awl-shaped stamina twice the length of the
empalemeut, terminated by short erect summits, having four furrows and an
orbicular erect germen supporting two styles which are reflexed, and crowned
by hairy stigmas. The germen afterwards turns to a roundish compressed,
bordered capsule, including one roundish compressed seed.

228. Miller reckons six sorts of Elms known in Eng-
land ; but I shall speak of the mode of cultiv^ating this tree,
having in my eye the common English Elm, with small
leaves, oval, acute-pointed, doubly sawed, and unequal at
their base, which Miller calls the Ulmus Stativus.

229. It is very curious that Milleu, after having very

The Elm.

accurately described the flower and the seed of the Elm,
should, M'hen he comes to talk of the propagation of the
plant, not say one single word about propagation by seed ;
but falls to work to tell us, that the tree is propagated from
suckers, or from layers, and that layers are better than
suckers, because, in taking up the young plants, there is
not so much danger of tearing the roots to pieces. This is
a very curious way of plastering over a want of knowledge
of his subject. Why did he not get some of the seeds, as
they were to be got in such abundance, and try them in his
garden ; surely the seeds were not made for nothing. There
never was a seed yet, which, if perfect, would not produce
the like of the plant it came from. The Scripture tells us,
that every tree bears its seed in itself; and certainly it does,
though laziness and inattention resort to cuttings and layers,
and thus produce a degenerate race of many sorts of trees.
Almost all the Elms are propagated from siickei's : suckers
produce suckers ; and every farmer knows what a curse an
Elm tree is, standing on the side of a meadow or a field.
As to layers, they are like cuttings or branches of trees, and
he must be a fool, indeed, that expects a long and clear
trunk to come out of a branch.

230. We all know the various uses of the Elm ; it is used
by wheelwrights for various purposes : its boards, though
not good, come quickly; the tree grows fast, and to a great
size ; it has an ample foliage, and though by no means
beautiful, it soon makes a bare spot look green : the tree
will grow in almost any soil, though it likes good ground
better than bad. It is one of the great trees of the coimtry ;
the fuel it gives is good ; and certainly some pains ought
to be taken to have the tree straight and clear, free from
suckers coming out from the roots, and free from those
everlasting knots and knobs which suckers invariably have

The Elm.

upon their trunk. Besides this, there is the great expense
of suckers and layers. Miller may say what he pleases
about stools in a nurserj-, to get layers from ; but recollect
the vast difference between the trouble of layers and that
of raising the plants from the seed.

231. Now I know that the Elm is easily raised from the
seed. Miller tells us, that there are " some who raise
Witch Elris from seed"; and why not raise all Elms
from seeds ? I have made no actual experiment with the
English Elm ; but I see the seeds in great abundance, and
I can see no reason why one should not come from the seed
as well as the other. I have experience with regard to the
American Elms, for I have sown the seeds, and have the
plants; and now 1 shall proceed to give my directions for
propagating the Elm from seed.

232. The SEED, which the trees generally bear in great
abundance, bears a strong resemblance in point of shape
to a fried egg, the white of which spreads itself out in the
pan, while the yolk lies in a little raised lump in the middle.
That little lump of oblong shape, but wider at one end than
the other, is the seed; that which surrounds it is a sort of
wing, very thin, which is doubtless intended to convey the
seed a distance from the tree. These seeds, which at first
are green, become of a pale brownish colour in May, and
then they are ripe.

233. In speaking of the sowing of the seed, the best way
will be for me to give an account of what I myself did. The
seeds ripen in the month of May, in America, and I had
some seed sent thence to me, in that month. Anxious
to know whether the seeds would grow, I sowed a part of
them in July; and, in the month of September, in spite of

The Elm.

Chaffinches and Greenfinches, the plants came up and got
into rough leaf hefore November ; when, being so very
young, the severe frosts which we had in that month, did,
I am afraid, totally destroy them. I shall not be sure of
this for a month or two hence (it is now February) ; but
I ascertained the fact that Elm seeds will grow as easily as
Onion seeds, and that they will come up much more quickly.
Mine came up before I expected that they would; they had
been poking their heads out of the ground two days before
I perceived it ; and, when I did perceive it, I perceived the
ground covered over with the roots, with which the Finches,
from their closely neighbouring abode in a warm and lofty
shrubbery, had strewed it, by stripping off the heads of
the seed, the moment they made their appearance above
ground.

234. Let me stop here to beseech, with the greatest
earnestness, all those who sow Elm seeds, to guard the
beds effectually against these unreasonable, persevering,
and ever-active foes. They set at defiance all your boys
and girls and shoy-hoys ; they have done their work for
the day long before any boy or girl or man can be got out
of bed. These gentry go to their beds at sun-set, a very
good hint for us ; and they have their meal for the day many
minutes before the sun rises. At the first glimpse of the
Aurora they are on your beds j nothing escapes their eye,
and the beak follows the eye instantaneously. I knew that
these provoking creatures never gave rest to radish, turnip,
and other peppery seeds ; I knew that they harassed the
beds of firs and spruces ; but how should I think of their
being so fond of a rough and husky seed like that of the Elm,
and especially when 1 knew that neither they nor their
progenitors had ever seen abed of Elm seeds before. Such,

The Elm.

however, was the fact ; and, instead of twenty thousand
plants, I got perhaps three.

235. I sowed my seeds with the following" preparation,
and in the following manner : — First, owing to my im-
patience to ascertain their sounchiess, I soaked them and
mixed them with earth, in the manner that I have described
with regard to the Birch seeds, in paragraph 158. When
I saw that the seeds were grown very plump, I sowed them
on beds, on which I first sifted some earth, and, when the
seeds were sown, I covered them with finely-sifted earth,
about an inch deep. If they had been sown in the spring,
they would have attained the height of twelve or fifteen
inches by the month of October; and, as it was, they gene-
rally attained the height of two or three inches, and had
long and beautiful rough leaves upon them when the frost
overtook them in November. This, therefore, is the way
in which I recommend the seeds of the Elm to be sown.

236. As to the manner of preserving the seeds; when
gathered, which, as we have seen, is in the month of May,
they should be made as dry as paper, by being placed for
several successive days in the sun. When they are per-
fectly dry, put them into bags, not more than two or three
gallons in each, and hang them up in a perfectly dry place.
There they will safely hang till the next month of April,
and then they ought to be sown in the manner I sowed
mine. If you soak the seed, you ought to water the beds,
gently, the next day, and, whether you soak them or not,
you ought to shade the beds with mats laid on them until
the seeds begin to come up ; that is to say, if the weather
be very dry. A gentle watering in the evening, and shad-
ing in the heat of the day, will soon bring them up, whether
soaked or not.

The Elm.

237. The beds being kept carefully weeded, and most
effectually guarded against birds, which I defy you to do
unless you cover with glass, which is bad for such things,
or with a net that is so line that a Finch cannot by possi-
bility get its head through, it being impossible to guard
against the birds by coarse nets, which, though you double,
or treble, or quadruple them, will shade the ground, and
will yet leave some hole for the birds to get through : these
precautions being taken, your plants, which are very
slender, and which may stand very thick in the seed-bed,
will be fit to go into the nursery in the month of October,
or early in November, after which their treatment is to be
precisely that of the Ash, even to cutting down the second
year, and pruning as directed in paragraphs 127 and 149.

238. With regard to distances, it is hardly necessary to
speak of them, as Elms are generally destined for avenues,
hedge-rows, or independent situations; they may, however,
form a clump, or even a plantation ; and in that case you
must prune and thin out, as the plantation grows, in the
same manner as directed for the Beech in paragraph 149.

239. Elms, like all other deciduous trees the bark of
which is of no use, are cut when the leaf is off, and the sap
is down. Young ones will come up in prodigious numbers
from the roots after the tree is cut ; and therefore the best
way is to grub the tree, and to rely upon the seeds for young
ones. A quart of Elm seeds consists, I should think, of
about two thoiisand in number. These will stand very con-
veniently upon o»e rod of ground, as a seed-bed. Here
are two thousand plants obtained at the expense (if of
English seed) of less than half-a-crown, weeding and every
thing included. A man will dig the rod of ground in an
hour, and sow it in another; and it would be hard to find

K

The Elm.

a person so lazy as not to perform three wee(ling"s in the
space of half a clay. Elm trees, from the niirseties,
must be dear. The work of raising layers is tedious ;
a monstrous space is required to raise many thou-
sands. It is impossible for a nursery-man to raise
them in this way, and to produce good plants, under four
or five pounds a thousand. Suckers, he may, indeed, find
enough ; but they must be dug up; they must be brought
from some distance ; they must be trimmed, head and root,
before he can put them into the nursery : after that they
must be cut down, and have a year's growth after that,
even in the nursery, before they can be put out into plan-
tations; and after all they are poor scrubby things, with an
imperfect and half- rotten root; and though they generally
\vill grow, it is next to impossible that they should ever
make a fine tree. As to the layers, they are produced by fix-
ing down a large branch upon the ground, and laying earth
upon the stems of the smaller branches. It is two years
before they get roots sufficient to suffer them to be removed ;
they are then put into a nursery in rows : there they are
cut down, and must have the growth of a year or two before
they can be finally planted out.

240. THE WITCH ELM.— This is the only other Elm
that we have which is of any importance; Miller calls it
the Ulmus Campcstris, or common ruff or broad-leaved
Witch Elm. The propagation of this is in all respects like
the former. In some parts of the kingdom it is preferred
to the first, for its timber; and as Miller himself confesses
that some people raise this Elm from seeds, it is impossible,
one would think, to find an apology for the bungling, the
tardy, the expensive practice, of raising the plants from
suckers or layers.

The Elm.

241. AMERICAN ELMS.— There are, according to
Michaiix, the White Elm and the Red Elm, the former
being the largest and finest tree, and also producing the
best timber. These Ehns are greatly superior to ours :
the tree is much loftier 3 the foliage, beyond all comparison
more beautiful, and the wood finer grained ; and, in every
respect, far preferable to ours. The seed sent to me the
year before last, which came from the borders of Lake
Ontario, were gathered from a tree which had a clear
straight stem seventy feet high before it began to ramify.
The leaves of these Elms are between three and four inches
long, rather narrow in proportion to their length, very
pointed, very much sawed, and of a lively beautiful green,
which they retain throughout the whole of the hottest
summer.

242. Now if it were to be believed that the seeds of the
English Elm cannot be made to grow ; if it were possible
to make any rational being believe this, why not import the
seeds from America? Nothing can be easier; and I do
not say this without having given proof of the fact, t have
done the thing myself; and therefore I have a right to say,
that any planter may do it if he will. But, and with this
remark I shall close what 1 have to say upon the subject of
the Elm, great care must be taken that the seeds be not
put together in such a state as to expose them to fermenta-
tion. All vegetables are prone to ferment, if put together in
considerable quantities. Not one thousandth part, perhaps,
of the grass-seeds grow, that have once been in a hay-rick.
The sweepings of a hay-loft will produce a prodigious
number of plants; buti am convinced, that, if the rick have
heated, no growing seeds will come out of any part of the
hay, except that part that has laiu near the outside of the
rick. In the case of seeds like those of the Elm, you do not

k2

The Fir.

perceive, when you open the package, that they have fer-
mented. They even appear to be sound and solid ; but if
there have been fermentation the seeds will not grow ; the
germ is the thing of importance; it is very tender, and is
destroyed by the least degree of fermentation. I expected
at least two hundred thousand plants from the Elm seeds
which I imported the summer before last. Nothing could
appear to be in better condition. I sowed them with as
much confidence as 1 should have sowed radish seed that
I had raised myself, and not one single seed ever came up.

FIR.

In Latin, Abies; in French, Epic ie.

243. The botanical characters are: — The male flowers are disposed in a loose
bunch, having no carolla, but many stamina, joined in form of a column at
their base, but separated above, having erect summits. The females are col-
lected in an oblong cone, each scale inclosing two, which have no carolla, a
small germen with a single stigma. These are succeeded by membrana-
ceous winged seeds.

244. We call every thing Fir, whether it be of the Pine
sort or of the Spruce; but, as the manner of propagating
and planting of both descriptions are the same, I shall not
encumber my work by an useless division in this iesj)ect. I
shall treat of Pines and Spruce all under one and the same
head. I will give here, however, from Miller, the bota-
nical characters of the Pine species.

The Fill.

PINE.

In Latin, Pinus ; in Frencli, Pin.

245. The hotaiiical characters are: — The male flowers are collected in a scaly
conical bunch ; they have no petals, but many stamina^ which are connected
at their base, but divided at the top, terminated by erect summits ; these are
included in the scales, which supply the want of petals and empalements.
The female flowers are collected in a common oval cone, and stand at a dis-
tance from the male on the same tree. Under each scale of the cone are
produced two flowers, which have no petals, but a small gernien supportinjf
an awl-shaped style, crowned by a single stigma. The germea becomes
afterwards an oblong ovai nut, crowned with a wing- included in the rigid scale
of the cone.

246. All Firs, both descriptions, bear their seed in cones,
which, like most other things, ripen in the autumn. If they
be suffered to liang on the tree, and do not fall down before
the next summer, the warmth of the sun opens them; and
the seeds, wliich are furnished with a httle wing, fall out,
and are borne away by the wind; and they will sometimes
come up, and grow into trees, if they be shaded a little
from the sun, and sheltered from the drying winds. You,
therefore, gather or pick up the cones in Novembei*, or
sometime before the spring; dry them well, and put them
by till about March. TJeing then exposed to the sun, or
laid near to a warm fire, the scales of the cones burst open,
and the seeds come out. If suffered to remain in the cone,
by not being exposed to heat, the seeds will remain good
for a dozen, or, perhaps, for twenty years; but, if taken out
of the cones, they will not keep good for more than a year
or two; or, at least, this is generally the case.

247. As to the manner of sowing these seeds, M-hich work
is to be done as early in the spring as the ground will work

The Fir.

well (which generally is about the middle of March), you
prepare the ground in the manner directed for receiving
the seeds of the Ash, for which see paragraphs 109 and the
following^ with this material difference, however: that, in
case of fir-beds, the alleys, for a reason by and by to be
mentioned, ought to be two feet wide at the least. The
ground, when the beds are formed, ought to be made very
fine ; and if the earth were sifted on, it would be the better,
because these seeds are very tender, and do not come up
well in rough ground. When the beds are prepared, you
sow the seeds on them pretty thickly. If the weather be
very windy, it is convenient to mix the seeds with sand that
is rather damp ; and, indeed, it were not amiss if this were
done in all sorts of weather, especially in the case of the
smaller seeds, which are very apt to fall out of the hand in
great quantities in particular places.

248. The seed being sowed, pat it gently down with the
back of the spade, and then cover it with sifted mould taken
out of the alleys. This mould should not be more than an
inch in depth, and should be put on with great evenness.

249. If the weather be dry, water the beds with a fine
rosed watering-pot, but by no means do this until the
ground be perfectlj/ dry ; for, if you water M-hile the earth
is fresh from its recent removal, it runs together and
becomes baked by the sun, which is very injurious to the
coming up of the plants, which would begin to appear in
about six weeks ; and then all your pains are thrown away,
unless you keep off the hirdfi, which are mortal enemies of
everything bearing the name of Fir-seeds. Your precautions
on this score must not wait till you can see the seeds break-
ing the ground. The finches will make the discovery long
before you will. They smell the seeds under the ground.

TiiK Fir.

and tliey watch their appearance with an a?si(hiity hcyond
beUcf. No eye is like that of a birdj otherwise, how does
a pigeon, that is actually up in the clouds, discover grain
scattered upon the earth ? The finches from the neigh-
bouring trees, or, if there be no trees, by flying over the
garden, ascertain all that is going forward. You cannot
protect yourself by mats ; because the seeds, if they came
up under the mats, would be so weak as to perish. If you
put the mats on by day, and take them off by night, the
birds will be on the beds and have finished their work in
the morning before you can get a human being to the spot.
Glass is out of the question in such a case; and therefore
you must have nets, the meshes of which are too small
for a finch to get its head through. These nets must
be put over rods bent in a semicircular form across the
beds, with other rods tied upon them long-ways, so that
the bed ^v^ll have a covering resembling the tilt of a wag-
gon. Then you must take care that the lower edges of
the net be pinned down closely to the ground, all the way
along on both sides 3 so that there be not a single hole left,
at which a bird can creep in. Besides the birds, there are
the mice, equally fond of these seeds. They get at them
even before they break the ground. They set nets at defi-
ance; and whereas the others work by day, these gentry
■work by night. Traps, poison, all sorts of means, but live-
traps baited with cheese, particularly, you must resort to,
especially if you be near a shrubbery, or a grass-ground, or
any place that harbours the mice. Without these precau-
tions, it is perfectly useless to sow the seed. 1 had some
beds last summer, of both Pine and Spruce. I have pro-
bably fifty thousand j)lants ; and 1 am perfectly convinced
that if I had left the beds wholly uncovered, and had
made use of no mean to destroy the mice, I should not
have had 07ie single plant. As it was, I lost much more

The Fir.

llian half, and thought myself lucky lo preserve what
reuiained.

250. The i)Iants should be kept perfectly clear from
weeds, watered gently in dry weather during the summer,
and the ground between the plants should be moved a little
gently now and then, so as to give the plants the benefit of
the dews. The wide alley will give scope for all this work,
and for the netting and mouse-catching. If you take a
narrower s{)ace than two feet, you will sometimes trample
the edges of the beds, and will be apt to disturb the edges
by fixing in the ends of the hooped rods.

251. If the plants be taken proper care of, and if the
ground be suitable to them, they will in general be two or
three inches high by the month of October. They ought
to stand in the beds another year ; for they are so very
small, as to make it extremely diflicult to transplant them,
in a proper manner, the first year.

252. Having now brought the plants to the age at which
they are to be removed from the seed-bed, I proceed to
give directions for the removal. The incparaiion of the
ground in the nursery is precisely the same as for the ^sh ;
but the plants must he taken up with the greatest care, and
there must be no pruning of roots^ except just at the point
of the long middle root. The work should be done in
October or in March, and not in winter. The plants ought
to be removed in such a way as to shake but little of the
earth from the fibres; and, above all things, the roots must
be close kept from sun and wind.

253. The plants ought to stand in the nursery but one
year, or two at most, before they go into plantations, where

The Fill.

the work of planting ought to be done in the manner
directed for the Ash. If amongst heath or furze or rockSy
there must, of course, be mere holes, instead of trenching:
But the work of phmting is still to be done in the same
manner, only extraordinary care taken to keep the roots,
while out of ground, from the sun and wind.

254. But, in the case of Firs, of any description (and the
same may be said of the Cedar and the Cypress), there is
no need of any mirsery at all ; and the best way is, to let
them stand, not too thickly, tico years in the seed-hed, and
then put them, at once, into plantations. They will not be
above seven or eight inches high ; but they will be ten feet
high before plants, put out at four feet high, will have
attained the height of seven or eight feet. This Miller saw
proved in numerous instances, and I am sure of the fact
from repeated experience, and from the observation of my
whole life.

255. With regard to the distances in the plantation, some-
thing must depend upon the sort of Fir, and upon the uses
to which the plantation is destined ; and the Sjjruces spread,
in their early stages, wider than the Pines, and, therefore,
might reasonably have more room. Four feet for the lat-
ter and five for the former may, generally speaking, be a
good distance ; for, though they never can become large
trees at these degrees of closeness, they draw each other
up, shelter each other from cutting winds, and rise foster
than if at wide distances. They should, however, be thinned
out before their boughs interfere with each other j first tak-
ing out every second tree throughout the plantation, and,
next, all that remain in every other row. Even at this dis-
tance, they will not attain a very great height j but, at every
thinning, they will get more and more room, while those

Thk Fir.

that are cut out will yield a profit, and, generally, a great
profit. The first thinnings will yield poles; the second,
rafters for out or temporary buildings; and the subsequent
cuttings will, if the sort be pretty good, make narrow boards,
and stuff for various useful purposes.

256. Firs will grow on the poorest of land, though not so
well as on good land. The Spruces come chiefly from tlie
barren rocky lands of North America ; and the lands, where
the Pines of America abound, are actually called Pine-
barrens. The Firs do not much like clay-land ; but they
will grow on it very well, and especially the Spruce-Firs.
Certainly, as articles of profit, they ought to be allowed
none but the worst lands; for they yield in value of pro-
duce to almost every other sort of tree, if both be planted
upon tolerably good groimd.

257. Firs, if in a close plantation, ought to be kept prjtned,
and according to the rule in paragraphs 127 and 149. The
prunings, tied up in fagots, pay well for the labour, and
they are by no means bad fuel for lime-lulns and brick-
kilns, and will burn better green than dry, which is a great
advantage. But, in this work of pruning, care ought to be
taken to cut close to the trunk, and with a sharp knife.

258. When Firs are felled, their stems and roots ought
to be grubbed up ; for, like the Cedars and the Cypress,
the stems never throw out shoots; and these stems encum-
ber the ground, and do a great deal of mischief. It is the
same with the stems (or moors as they are sometimes called)
of all trees ; but the stems of deciduous trees will generally
throw out new shoots, some of which, as in the case of the
Oak, will become trees ; but Firs never throw out any shoots
at all : when once cut down, they are gone for ever. When

The Fir.

Firs lose, from any cause, their leading shoot, the remaining-
part of that shoot ought to he cut clean out with a sharp
knife; and they will presently, in one of the side-branches,
find a new leader, without giving you any trouble.

259. There rema'^s now, under this head, little more to
do than to give a list of the several sorts of Firs that I think
worth planting in England ; just observing here, that the
Larch is to be spoken of in its proper place, and that the
Cedar of Lebanon, which is certainly a Fir, is, in all respects,
propagated and cultivated like the Fir, but that, though a
most magnificent ornamental tree, never can, from the
badness of its timber, be planted as an article of profit. I
shall begin with the Spruce Firs, and then come to the
Pines.

260. 1. The Norway Spruce Fir {Abies Picea), which
has a large long cone, and is veiy common in England.
2. The Balm or Gilead Fir {Mies Balsamica), whxch has
a shorter cone and thicker leaf. 3. The White Spruce
of North America {Abies Alba), with a narrow cone about
an inch and a half long. 4. The American Black or
Double Spruce {Abies Kigra), with a cone about an inch
and a quarter long, and bigger round than the last-men-
tioned. 5. The American Silver Fir {Abies Balsamifera) .
The cone of this Fir is about three inches long, and the tips of
the scales are of a silver-like colour. The leaves are white on
the under side, so that this is a very beautiful tree. 6. The
Hemlock Spruce {Abies Canadensis). The leaves of this
Spruce are shorter and smaller than those of the other sorts,
and the cone is not much more than half an inch long, and
proportionably small in circumference.

261. With regard to the first of these, namely, the Nor-

The Fill.

way Spruce, it produces the deals that come from tliat
country, and it grows sometimes to the height of 150 feet.
The second and fifth sorts, which differ hut little from each
other, do not appear to he of much use, except as orna-
mental trees. The first is of European origin, and it is
said to grow very high ; but that of America rarely exceeds
forty feet in height, and the wood, according to Michaux,
is inferior to that of the other Spruces. The third sort,
namely, Abies Alba, is also called the Single Spruce : it
rarely exceeds the height of fifty feet; its timber is inferior
to that of the Black Spruce, and its boughs are not good
for the making of spruce beer. The fourth sort, namely,
the American Black or Double Spruce, is a very valuable
tree : it attains the height of seventy or eighty feet, while
the diameter of the bottom of the trunk does not exceed
above twenty inches. It is used as masts for ships, and is
exceedingly useful in this respect. The Txiiees of vessels
are, at Boston, sometimes made of the Black Spruce, formed
by the base of the trunk and one of the principal roots.
Michaux says that it is tougher than the White Pine, but
more liable to crack. The tree will flourish in the coldest
and poorest of land; and Michaux says that the wood has
been proved to be, in Europe, superior to the Norway
Pine. The twigs of this tree are boiled in water, with a
certain quantity of treacle or sugar, and the mixture is left
to ferment. When the fermentation is over, the beer is fit
to drink. The essence of Spruce is obtained by boiling the
ends of the young branches in water, and then evaporating
the water by boiling, until you have an extract left ; and
tliis extract is the essence of Spruce, which is brought to
England in great quantities, but which might be made here
as well as in America. This being a matter of some little
importance, I ought to mention that Michaux notices, that
Sir a. B. Lambert asserts that it is the White Spruce

The Fir.

winch is made use of for this purpose, but that he, Michaux,
had seen the process of making the beer many times, and
that it was always made of the Black Spruce, and not of the
White; to which I can add my not very little experience,
having had no other sort of drink, except by mere accident,
for seven years of my life. The copper in which we used to
boil our beer, was built at the foot of a high and steep rock,
which was covered with these Black Spruces. We used
first to cut down the trees, then chop off the branches, or
rather the points of the branches, then tie these up into
little fagots, and toss them from the top of the rock down
into the copper, jocosely dignifying the article by the name
of malt ; when it had boiled sufficiently along with the
treacle, we used to let it ferment, then take it out (each
company having its allowance per day), carry it in open
tubs (old pork barreli'), to our quarters, and the plenty
was such, that each man came when he liked with the
bottom of an old canteen, or some other such article, and
regaled himself, upon the proceeds of these boughs ; so
that few people understand more about this matter than
I do J and I agree with Monsieur Michaux, that it is the
Black and not the White Spruce, that is used for this pur-
I)Ose. This is also a singularly beautiful tree -, its branches
extend out in a horizontal direction. The summit is a re-
gular pyramid, and, in all respects, this appears to me to
be the best of the Spruces. The sLxth sort, or Hemlock
Spruce^ is a native of the same country, attains about the
same height (about 70 or 80 feet), is deemed a very beau-
tiful tree, grows to a larger bulk in the trunk, is very much
esteemed as an ornamental tree in the United States of
America ; it is in fact, in look, a spiral Yew tree, only, perhaps,
ten times as high ; and, though the properties of its wood are
such as to make it the least valuable as timber of all the
large resinous trees of North America, its bark is used for

The Fir.

tanning in the countries where it grows ; and, though it is
doubtless inferior to the bark of the Oak, it is used for the
tanning of leather, and very good and substantial leather
comes from the process. It is used for this purpose at
Boston and New Providence, and even in the State of New
York ; and, Michaux says, sometimes so far south as
Baltimore. It is brought from the North, that is to say,
from the district of Maine, to the parts of the United States
just mentioned. Its deep red colour is imparted to the
leather ; and, Michaux says, that he has been informed
by tanners, that though of itself it is inferior to the Oak
bark, the two species united are better than either of them
alone.

262. As to the Pines, Miller couwX?, fourteen sorts, and
Michaux adds several that Miller knew nothing about.
It would be useless to make particular mention of each of
these. I shall therefore notice only, first, the Scotch Pine
or Fir, {Pinus Sijlvestris.) 2. The Norway Red Pine.
{Finns Rubra.) 3. The American White Pink, (Pinus
Strobus) ; and, 4. The American Pitch Pine, {Pinus
Rigida).

263. As to the first of these, the Scotch Fir, every body
in England knows too much about it, seeing that it now
covers hundreds of thousands of acres that might liave been
covered by some valuable Pine, or by some other tree ; for
I know of no ground where the Scotch Fir will grow, on
which Birch or Locust would not grow. The second,
namely, the Norway Red Pine, is that which produces
the best timber ; the same Pine is found in abundance in
America, and is tliere also called the Red Pine. It attains
the height of seventy or eighty feet, and two feet or more
of diameter at its base. The cone is small, not being more

The Fiu.

than one inch and a quarter long, and small in its girt in
proportion. The timber makes good masts for ships;
MicHAux states, that the main-mast of the St. Lawrence,
a ship of fifty gnns, built by the French at Quebec, was of
this Pine. While young, the Red Pine has a beautiful
aspect, and its vegetation is always vigorous. Some have
spoken disparagingly of its timber; but Michaux says, that
it has a fine compact grain, and that in Canada and Nova
Scotia it is highly esteemed for its strength and durability.
The third, namely, the Wurrfi Pine, is one of the largest
and finest of trees. The cone is something of the shape
of the long spruce cone, and is not at all compact, but
loose and rough. Michaux says, that he measured two
trunks that had been felled for canoes, one of which was
154 feet long, and fifty-four inches in diameter. He says,
that he has found the largest trees of it in the best land, but
that it will thrive in any land that he knows any thing of.
He does not speak so highly of the wood. He has observed,
that it is the foremost in taking possession of barren desert
lands, and the most hardy in resisting the impetuous gales
of the ocean. The wood is so clear from knots, that it is
very much in use Avhere great strength and hardness is not
required. Immense quantities of this timber are sent, in one
shape or other, to almost all parts of the world. The fourth,
namely, the American Pitch Pine. The cone of this pine
is about an inch and a quarter long. The tree attains the
height of seventy or eighty feet, and a diameter of from
twenty to thirty inches. Michaux does not speak highly
of the wood, but says, that from this tree abundance of pitch
is procured.

264. It would be useless to state particulars relative to
any of the remainder of the long list of Pines j and, as
1 have before given directions for collecting the seed, and

The Gum Trf.e.

for doing every thing else, until the trees be put out into
plantations, I have only to add here, that if seed be pro-
cured either at home or abroad, care should be taken
that the cones be ripe before they be gathered ; for, if
they be not ripe, they will not open when laid in the sun,
and if they were to open the seed would not grow. When
the seed is once got out, the sooner it is sowed the better;
but, as was before observed, if you cannot sow the seed the
spring after you have collected the cones, the best way is
to keep the cones unopened until the next year.

THE aUT/l TZiSE.

In Latin, Liquidamber Styraciflua ; in French, Copalm.

2fi5. The Botanical characters are -.—It has male and female flowers some-
times on the same plant, and at other times upon different plants ; the male
flowers are numerous, disposed in long loose conical katkins ; these have
four-leaved empalements, but no petals. They have a great number of short
stamina joined in one body, which are convex on one side, but plain on the
other, terminated by erect twin summits, with four furrows. The female
flowers are often situated at the base of the male-spike, collected in a globe ;
these have a double empalement like that of the male, and each of them has
a bell-shaped, angular, distinct empalement, with many protuberances. They
have no petals, but an oblong germen fastened to the empalement, support-
ing two awl-shaped styles, to which is also tixed the recurved stigmas, which
are hairy, and as long as the styles. The empalement afterwards turns to
a roundish capsule of one cell, with two valves at the top, which are acute,
and collected in a ligneous globe, containing oblong acute-pointed seeds.

266. The Gum-tree (sometimes called the Sweet Gum)
I do not recommend to be planted in England as a forest
tree, there are so many others which are, in all respects,
preferable to itj but it is so very beautiful a tree; the colour
of the leaf, both when green and when it dies; the shape
of the leaf, the form of the tree, are all so beautifu 1, and the

The Gum Tree.

tree is so harmless as to the herbage beneatli it; it would
be so ornamental to parks,' and near to houses, that I think
it right to speak of the manner of raising it.

267. The SEED is contained in a round cone or ball,
about the size of a small walnut, but perfectly round, and
having prickles on the outside of it. When this ball is laid
in the sun, or near a fire, these prickles, which close up
apertures in the ball, yield away from each other, and leave
the apertures open for the seed to come out. If you do not
receive the balls soon enough in the spring to sow the seed
the same year, do not endeavour to get out the seed until
next year, for the seed, like that of the Firs, will not keep
well out of the cone.

268. As to sowing, turn back to the directions given
for sowing the seed of the Fir, and sow the seed of the Gum
Tree in precisely the same manner, but not nearly so
thick ; cover the beds with nets also ; for I have perceived
that both mice and birds are very active enemies of this
seed. The seed should be covered no deeper than has been
directed in the case of the Fir, and the earth ought to be
equally fine ; for it is a very tender seed, and does not easily
come through ground that is stiff or rough. When the
young plants come up, great care must be taken not to
loosen the earth too much about them when you pull up
the weeds ; and, after a weeding, there should always be a
gentle watering, if the weather be dry. The season for
sowing is that of the Fir.

269. In October, the plants will be about si.v inches
high. Their removal into the nursery, and their manage-
ment there, are precisely the same as directed in the case
of the Ash. The Gum has a very bushy root; and there-

L

Thk Hawthorn.

fore it is removed witii great ease and safety. As it will
generally be wanted as single trees, or as clumps in parks,
it may, if required, stand in the nursery till it be four or five
feet liigli, and it will, even then, remove very well. This
tree would be beautiful in clumps, where it might be
planted at four feet distances, and thinned out in the manner
before several times directed for other deciduous trees.

2/0. Of the WOOD of this tree, Michaux does not
speak highly, but the contrary. He says, it yields in point
of quality (though in making articles of household furniture
it is frequently used), to the Black Walnut and Wild
Cherry; but that still it is frequently used fur such articles,
but particularly in the making of bedsteads. Michaux
adds, that this tree has grown for some time in France ; but
that it never has been known to ripen its seed in Europe.

^ THU HAWTHOiRN.

In Latin, Mcspilus ; in French, Aubcpine.

271. The Botanical characters are : — This tree is a species of the Medlar.
The empalenient of the flower is permanent, of one leaf cut into five spreading
concave segments. The flower is composed of five roundish concave petals,
which are inserted in the empalement. The number of stamina are different
in the several species; from ten to twenty or more; these are also inserted
in the empalement, and are terminated by single summits. The germen is
situated under the flower, and supports an uncertain number of styles, from
three to five, which are crowned by headed stigmas. The germen afterwards
becomes a roundish berry, carrying the empalement on its top, and enclosing
four or five hard seeds.

272. If we all knew how to propagate and cultivate this
tree as well as we know the height and the size of the tree,
and the leaf the flower and the thorns that it bears, I might
leave this name without any remarks appended to it; but it

The Hawthorn.

is In fact a tree or shrub of very great importance in this
country, and the propagation and cultivation of it deserve
particular attention, which attention, therefore, they shall
receive at my hands.

2/3. The SEED is, in the first place, a little red thing
in the shape of a Medlar, which becomes ripe in the month
of October. The seeds should be gathered then, or beaten
off the bushes, or the birds soon take them all away.
When the seeds are collected, they should be put directly
into some safe place, mixed with sand rather wet, three
bushels of sand to one bushel of berries, and should be kept
and treated in exactly the same way as directed for the
treating and the keeping of the seed of the Ash, for which
see paragraph 10/.

274. When the time arrives for sowing, which will be
the second month of March after it has been gathered, the
seed ought to be sown in precisely the same manner as
directed for the Ash, in paragraphs 111, 112, and 113.
When the seeds come up, and even before they come up,
take particular pains to keep them clear of weeds j and, as
has just been mentioned for the Gum tree, if you weed in
dry weather, give a gentle watering on the beds after the
weeding has been done, to settle the ground again which
has been moved near the roots of the young plants. If the
ground be good, and proper care has been taken during
the summer, the plant will be six inches high before the
month of October; but you must treat the plants well, or
else they will not.

275. In removing the plants into the nursery there will
be no great difficulty; for they have good roots, and they
remove very well ; but, in this case, very great care must

l2

The Hawthorn.

be taken to assort the plants well; to cla*s them into
strong ones and weak ones ; and, perhaps, three classes
would be better than two. It is of the greatest consequence
in the ])Utting these plants finally out, that there be no
mixture of weak plants and strong plants ; because when
the plants come to go into hedges, the strong plants will
overtop the weak ones, and leave gaps, which can never be
verv easily closed up again ; the weaker plants may stand
a year or two longer in the nursery than the strong ones
according to the purposes for which they are wanted.

276. No one makes a jjlantation of Hawthorns. The
great use of the tree is to make hedges, commonly called
Quickset Hedges. The age of the plants for this work,
and the manner of doing the work, are detailed at full
length in paragraphs 34 to 37 inclusive, to which the
reader will be pleased here to refer; but, in that part of
the work, having spoken of [i high bank whereon to plant the
hedge, 1 ought to mention here, that precisely the same in-
structions are to be followed if the hedges are to be planted
on the level ground.

277« If plants are wanted to make part of a shrubbery,
or to become standard trees in a park or a lawn, they
should be pruned up the sides as they proceed, in the nur-
sery, where they should not stand above four or five years, and
they should have one removal in the nursery, and one sum-
mer's growth there, the year before they be finally removed.
This will give them a bush root; there will be little of the
root to ami)utate at the final removal; and they will strike
off in the new ground, if they be carefully planted there;
that is to say, if the work of planting be performed in the
manner directed in the case of the Ash. If thus planted,
they will start afresh with very little check.

The Hazel.

278. Wlien Hawthorns are planted out singly, or in
clumps of three or four, it is very desirable that, to their
other great beauties of leaf and flower, they add that of a
straight stem. This a transplanted Hawthorn never will
have, if the transplantion of it take place at too advanced an
age. Five years old is quite old enough ; for, if they be
tall, the wind blows them on one side, and they become
and remain leaning and luisightly things. If they do lean
on one side, and cannot be easily restored to an erect posi-
tion, they ought to be cut down to the ground, and a new
stem suffered to come up.

279. The wood of the White Thorn, or Hawthorn, is
very hard and compact; and, when it attains to any consi-
derable size, it is used for most of the purposes which have
been spoken of as those to which the wood of the Crab is
usually destined. As underwood, it produces mere bushes ;
and it ought not to be suffered to interfere with the other
underwoods.

THE HAXEZi.

In Latin, Cory his ; in French, Noisettiei^s.

280. The botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers grow-
ing at remote distances on the same tree. The male flowers are produced in
long scaly katkins, each scale including a single flower, having no petals,
but eight short stamina fastened to the side of the scale, and terminated by
oblong erect summits. The female flowers are included in the future l)ud,
sitting close to the branches; these have a thick two-leaved pcrianthiiun,
torn on the border, sitting under the flower when it is small, but it is after-
wards enlarged to the size of the fruit ; it has no petal, but a small roundish
germen occupies the centre, supporting two bristly coloured styles, which
are larjyer than the empalement, crowned by single stigmas. The germen
afterwards becomes an oval nut, shaved at the base and compressed at the
top, ending in a point.

The Hazel.

281. This, which is one of our most useful underwoods,
is the common Niit-Tree, which is too well known to us all
to make any very particular description of its height, size,
form, leaf, or any thing else belonging to it, necessary in
this place. There are several varieties of the nut, amongst
which are the Cob and the Filbert ; but the whole are pro-
pagated and cultivated in the same manner; except that, if
fruit be the object, you must propagate by suckers or layers,
and not from the nut; for, if Cob-nuts or Filberts be sowed,
the fruit of the trees which come from them will, in all pro-
bability, be nothing more than the common nut. I mention
this incidentally, for these are matters of horticulture, and
have nothing to do with the rearing of timber trees and
underwood.

282. As underwood, the Hazel is a very useful plant. It
does not grow so fast as the Ash, as the Birch, as the
Chesnut, or as the Willow; but it produces a prodigious
number of shoots from its stem : it will bear the shade bet-
ter than almost any other underwood; and, though its
shoots do not grow to poles, they make the best of rods,
small hoops, hurdles, hethers to hedges, very good stakes,
and are good for many minor purposes, particularly for the
making of vent-pegs.

283. The Hazel grows best upon what is called a hazle-
mould : that is to say, mould of a reddish brown ; but it will
grow almost anywhere, from a chalk or gravel to a cold and
wet clay ; but the rods are durable in proportion to the
dryness of the ground on which the Hazel grows, and they
arc particularly good wlierc the bottom is chalk. I have,
indeed, seen very beautiful coppices, with Hazel rods as
thick as they could stand, in a soil not more than from four
to six inches deep, a poor hungry soil too, lying upon a bed

The Hazel,

of chalk. Ill the north of Hampsjhirc are the finest coppice.*
I have ever seen of Hazel : tliere, on the sides or on the tops
of some of the bleakest hills in England, you see innumera-
ble coppices of this wood, and generally very fine. The
Hazel splits freely, and is, therefore, peculiarly calculated
for hurdles and hoops; and, in the country last-mentioned,
hurdles are made of split rods in the neatest manner.

284. The seed of the Hazel is the nut, so well known to
every body in England. Some years these nuts are very
scarce, but in other years they are altogether as abundant.
Jn 1826, at the great fair of Weyhill, which takes place in
October, it was supposed that there were more sacks of nuts
(each holding four bushels) than there were at the same
fair, pockets of hops, though from that fair the whole of the
West of England is supplied with hops. In such a year
therefore, the nutsj when ripe, can be obtained at the ex-
pense of about twenty shillings a sack, when taken out of
the green husks that cover them. A part of these will
always prove bad, and "vvill not grow ; but, supposing a
fourth part to be of this description, three bushels contain
a prodigious number of nuts.

285. When you have the nuts collected, they ought, like
the Beech nuts and Chesnuts, to be laid in the sun till per-
fectly dry ; and then they ought to be put into dry sand, in
the manner directed for the Beech nuts and the Chesnuts^
to which the reader will be pleased to turn back. You
ought to move them once every month, to see whether they
have become damp ; and if so, they ought to be put in a
dryer place. The greatest care must be taken to preserve
them, for they are very apt to spoil.

286. As to the SOWING, they might be sowed in ploughed

The Hazel.

ground, which is intended to be the coppice, being sowed
over the ground Hkje wheat or barley, only more thinly, of
course ', and this would do very well, as it would in the case
of many other trees, if there were any magic spell to keep
the weeds from coming ; but the nut-plant is a very tender
plant when young, as tender as a radish, and is presently
covered over by weeds ; and perhaps by sowing a whole
field of ten acres, you would not obtain ten trees.

287. Plantations must, therefore, be made from plants
raised by sowing the seed. The manner of sowing the seed,
and the time of sowing it, are, and for the same reasons,
precisely those mentioned in the case of the Beech nut.
The covering is to be of the same thickness, but the beds
should be kept clear of weeds with still greater care ; and,
in pulling out the weeds, greater care should be taken not
to disturb the plants, which, if thus managed, and watered
now and then lightly in the evening in very dry weather,
will be from four to seven inches high in the month of
October.

288. They will come out of the seed-bed with a very
bushy root, which will merely want tipping with a sharp
knife ; and then the plants are to be sorted, putting the
strong ones by themselves and the weak ones by them-
selves, for the reasons before mentioned.

289. The distances in the plantation should, I think, be
those of rows of five feet apart, the plants five feet apart in
the row; the plants of one row coming opposite to the mid-
dle of the intervals in the other row. If the ground were
very good, the distances might be still greater; for the Hazel
stem spreads very widely, and soon fills up a great space.
As to the cultivation of the ground, the cutting down of

The Hazel.

the plants to form stems, the felling of the coppice, and the
application of the crop, all are the same as those mentioned
under the head of Asn ; except that, in the case of the
Hazel, no plants are ever left to become trees, and none are
ever intended for poles.

290. Before a man plant a coppice, he ought to consider,
and indeed he naturally will consider, the country the cop-
pice is situated in, and the probable demand for the different
sorts of the produce of underwood. Surrounded by the
hop-grounds of Kent, or any other part of England where
there are hop-grounds, poles will be his principal object;
and then the Ash, the Chesnut, and, in wet situations, the
Willow and the Alder, he will naturally look to as the
tilings to plant. Near to great towns. Birch he will con-
sider as a desirable article j in sheep countries, amidst the
downs, where the folding of sheep is the great source of
manure and of crops of corn, rods and hurdles will be the
objects of his coppice j and here he will want Hazel, and
here, too, he will find a sort of soil on which the best Hazel
grows.

291. The Hazel coppice, like others, is cut down when
the leaf is off, and the cutting always ought to cease by the
first of March, and all coppices ought to be quite cleared by
tlie twenty-fifth of that month. The age of the Hazel, when
it will be fit for the purposes above-mentioned on dry ground,
is from ten to twelve years ; but it ought not to be cut till
the rods are at the proper size. The whole of the rods will
not be at that size at the end even of twelve years; but, if
the coppice stand too long, the prime rods will have become
too big : and thus a loss of time, as well as of crop, will have
been occasioned.

In haXiD, Jugla7is To/neniosa ; in French, Hickorie.

292. The Fjotanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers at
separate distances on the same tree. The male flowers are disposed in
an oWon J rope or katkin, which is cylindrical and imbricated, with spaces
between the scales ; each side has one flower, with one petal fixed in the
outer centre, toward the outside of the scale. The petal is divided into six
equal parts ; in the centre is situated many short stamina, terminated by erect
acute summits. The female flowers grow in small clusters, sitting close to
the branches ; these have a short, erect, four-pointed empalement, sitting on
the germen, and an acute erect petal, dirided into four parts. Under the
empalement sits a large dry oval berry, with one cell, inclosing a large oval
nut with netted furrows, the kernel of which has four lobes which are vari-
ously formed.

293. There are divers sorts or varieties of the Hickory.
MicHAUx counts no less than eight varieties of this tree;
but the Americans make no distinction, except that of the
Shelbark Hickory Nut and the Hard Hickory Nut.
The wood appears to be pretty nearly the same in them all.
Some of the trees grow higher than the others ; but the
Shelbark grows to the height of eighty or one hundred
feet, but never with a very thick stem or trunk, seldom
more than two feet or two feet and a half in diameter. The
tree grows in America, in all sorts of ground, from the
deepest and richest valleys to the highest and poorest hills.
The tree, as an object to look at, is exceedingly beautiful,
loaded with leaves of a fine airy shape, and of a bright
green, turning yellow with the first frosts of the autumn,
and hanging upon the tree sas completely as if green,
for a month or six weeks after they have become of a bright

The Hickory.

yellow; having, as to its autumnal foliage, nothing to ex-
ceed it, except the Sassafras, which is still more thickly
covered with leaves, those leaves still more beautifully
formed, and their yellow of the autumn of a brighter dye.

294. The wood of the Hickory is not good for buildings,
but it is excellent for a great many uses : for the making
of tool-handles of all sorts ; for the making of fishing-rods,
of whip-handles, of handspikes, and of every thing which
requires great hardness and toughness. Michaux gives
instances of it having lasted under water for a great num-
ber of years; and I have a piece of wood now in my posses-
sion, recently sent me from New York, a certificate attend-
ing which shows that it had been under water for more
than FIFTY YEARS. For toughness and suppleness, this
wood surpasses all others. The back-bows of wooden
chairs are made of this wood, not of a young tree, but of
a piece cut out of a plank. The great broad hoops that go
round the masts of ships are made of Hickory wood, first
sawed out of a ])lank, then planed ; and the best wooden
hoops in the world, for barrels and tubs, are made of
HicK'ORY. So tough is this wood, that, in New England,
they take thin strips of it, and work them together into
icell-ropes and clothes lines, one of which last I bought when
1 was last in America. It is used for axletrees for carts and
waggons. It may bend, but it takes a weight or a force of
an extraordinary nature to break a piece of Hickory as big
as one's wrist. This tree has been so hunted after for its
various uses, and especially as fuel, of which it is the best
that ever was known, that Michaux seems to think that
the whole race will be destroyed in America in a very few
years; and indeed, where there is navigable water leading
to a considerable town, the slaughter of this tree has been
without mercy,

The Hickory.

295. As iinderwood, the Hickory would be invaluable as
hoops. It is made use of, as I said before, for all purposes
where toughness and suppleness are wanted ; for tool-han-
dles, cogs of wheels not exposed to wet j for the wood does
not last long, if exposed at the same time to the air and wet.
It is used for the teeth of wooden rakes and harrows, and its
surpasses our Crab in clubs, walking-sticks, and the swin-
gles of flails. It is always used in bows of ox-yokes. You
must absolutely beat a stick of it to pieces. It will come
to pieces in little shreds, in time, but nothing will break it.
It is employed, above all things, for wooden hoops of every
sort; and it is always used, where it can be obtained, in the
forming the hoops of casks and boxes, for which purpose
immense quantities are used in the United States, and ex-
ported to the West India Islands. These cask-hoops are
made of young Hickories coming from the seed, and cut
down at the height of from six to twelve feet, without any
choice as to the different varieties of this tree. My barrels
come from America with hoops sometimes made of young
Hickories and sometimes of the White Oak : the Hick-
ories, however, Michaux says, are the best for this pur-
pose ; because, although the White Oak is equally elastic,
it is more apt to peel off in small shreds.

296. A Hickory coppice would be an invaluable thing
in England. When cut down the first time, the stems
would send out two and three shoots; and if the distances
were as directed for the Ash or the Birch, the produce of
an acre would be from fifteen to twenty thousand hoops.
It is said that the Hickory is of slow growth when young;
l)ut this slowness of growth is only for the first two or three
years: for I have one now at Kensington, which has been
sowed five years, and which is now above seven feet high.
They might be planted in coppices at iliree feet apart.

The Hickory.

which would give 4840 plants upon an acre. If these
plants were properly treated, they would, at the second
cutting-, yield from 20,000 to 40,000 hoops ; because each
rod is always split into two, and therefore makes two hoops.

297. The plants should not, in this case, be cut down
until the second year after planting; because, having so
few fibres, and being so difficult to cause to strike, the
plants do not get good root till the second year. When cut
down, they would go up with a straight stem, and, in ten
years, or thereabouts, would make good hoops. No other
trees should be planted with the Hickory, because these
latter grow so slowly at first, that the others would over-
shadow them and keep them in a state of subjection.

298. Now, as to the manner of propagating the Hickory,
it is only by seed ; and that seed is neither more nor less
than a little Walnut, having a shell of different degrees of
hardness, in the different varieties of the tree. The form
of this Walnut, too, differs with these different varieties.
The seed never, I believe, ripened in England ; but it is
easy to be obtained from America, anywhere to the south
of the Province of Maine. These little Walnuts ought to
be sown as early in the year as possible; for, if sown late,
many of them will not come up the first year. The manner
of sowing is precisely that of the Ash ; only the nuts, when
laid upon the bed, should be patted down heavily with the
spade, before they be covered; so as to fix them firmly in
the ground, and to prevent them from being washed out
with heavy rains, or disturbed by worms.

299. As to the preserving of the seeds, they may be tossed
into a barrel like so many stones, and kept in any place
where they are not absolutely wet. When the plants are

The Holly.

up, they should be kept carefully weeded, during: the
summer, at the end of which they will have attained the
height of about four inches: they should then be put into
the nursery, in the manner directed for the Ash ; but, in
this case, the work of removal must be performed in the
month of October, or early in November, and with uncom-
mon care. Though the plants will only be about four inches
high, the tap root, if you take it to its very point, will be a
yard long on an average, with very short fibres coming out
on the sides of it. You must cut this tap roots off, so as to
leave it but eight inches long ; leave it as little as possible
exposed to the sun and wind, and then put it into the
nursery in the manner directed for the Ash, but with still
greater care. It must stand two years in the nursery ; and
then it may be removed into plantations, in the manner
directed for the Ash, but always with still greater care.

TH13 HOZiZ.^.

In Latin, Ilex; in French, Houx,

300. The botanical characters are: — It has male, female, and hermaphro-
dite flowers on different plants. The male flowers have a small permanent
empalement of one leaf, which is indented into four parts ; they have but one
petal, which is cut into four segments, almost at the bottom ; they have four
awl-shaped stamina, which are shorter than the petal, and are terminated by
small summits. The female flowers have their empalements and petals the
same as the male, but have no stamina ; in their centre is placed a roundish
germen, having four obtuse stigmas sitting on it. The gerraen afterwards
becomes a roundish berry with four cells, each containing a single hard seed.

301. All those who are old enough to know what
Christmas is, know what Holly is. As the French chose the
" Poplar tree," which in their language is called " Peuplier,"

Tub Holly.

as their tree of liberty, Peuplier seeming to have somttbing in
its sound that was partial to the people ; so, in ancient times,
in this country, when men had a little more real religion
than they have now, the Holly, which has but an " i. "
too much to make it holy, and which is the gayest object in
the woods and groves in the month of December, was
chosen as the symbol of rejoicing at the anniversary of the
birth of the Redeemer. From this cause, the outward ap-
pearances of the Holly are known to millions, perhaps, of
unfortunate smoke-dried creatures, who never saw the dew
in the whole course of their lives, and to whom the Aurora
is totally luiknown, except from the writings of the poets;
and, from the description which some of these have given
of it, one would think that they themselves never could
have seen the object they describe.

302. The Holly is certainly a most beautiful tree, and
if care and patience were exercised with regard to it, it
would become lofty and of straight stem, as well as of
beautiful foliage. It has a white insignificant blossom,
which is followed by bunches of berries, first green and
then red, each berry containing three oblong seeds as hard
as a stone. These seeds must be gathered in the month of
November, or the birds will take every one of them away,
especially if there come snow. The Holly berry seems to
be a sort oipis aller with them ; but they will fall on them
when they can get nothing else.

303. The seeds, or rather the berries, as soon as collected,
must be mixed up with damp sand, three portions of sand
to one of berries j and, after having been kept in that damp
state, in a cellar or some such place, for one whole year,
they are to be sowed in the manner directed for the seeds of
the Ash. They will sometimes not come up till the third

The Holly.

year, and then they must stand two years in the seed-bed,
for they are still too small to be removed until then. They
must be moved into a nursery, and finally into hedges, or
into shrubberies, with all the care and all the precaution
pointed out in the case of the Cedars.

304. The wood of the Holly is very hard, very close and
fine-grained, and serves for many purposes where it is
found of considerable size. It is used by cabinet-makers;
takes a very brilliant polish, and is employed for inlaying
mahogany furniture. It is good for the purpose of turnery,
and for making light screws, and Michaux tells us, that
in America it is sometimes used for the pulleys or blocks
of ships J but, in that country the tree grows larger, though
its outward appearances are not very different from those
of our tree. I have seen the Holly in both countries
flourishing in every sort of soil, and generally I have seen
the American Hollies much larger and more lofty than
ever I saw it in England. Its principal use is the mak-
ing of hedges, for which purpose it is excellent, at once the
most ornamental, giving the most complete shelter, and
forming the most effectual barrier against even the smallest
of animals, of any fence consisting of trees or shrubs. To
form a hedge, the Hollies should be planted at the same
distances, and in the same manner, as directed for those of
the Haavthorns; but, like other evergreens, should never
be moved, except early in September or in April.

305. Tbis tree is found in most of our coppices in England.
When it produces long and straightish sticks, they are put
by for whip-handles, being very tough in their young state.
The stouter sticks are laid by for walking-sticks, or for
swingles for flails, and the brush goes to the making of
dead hedges, in which it will lie, with its leaves not perished.

The Hornbeam.

for tliree or four years. The Holliks should he cut down,
not the first hut the second year after they he planted out,
hecause they do not strike readily, like the greater part of
deciduous trees; and, in the pruning of the roots, follow
the directions given in the case of the Fiiis; for here, the
fibres are not to be cut off, but only the points of the long
and straggling roots ; and the plants ought to be kept out
of the ground, at every removal of them, as short a time as
possible.

TKS HORNBEAZa.

In Latin, Carpinus ; in French, Charme.

306. The botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers, grow-
ing separately on the same plant. The male flowers are disposed iu a cylin-
drical rope, or katkin, which is loose and scaly, each scale covering one
flower, which has no petals, but ten small stamina, terminated by compressed
hairy summits. Th^ female flowers are disposed in the same form, and are
single under each scale ; these have one petal, which is shaped like a cup, cut
into six parts, and two short germen, each having two hairy styles, crowned
by a single stigma. The katkin afterwards grows large; and, at the base of
each scale is lodged an oval angular nut.

307. There are three or four varieties of the Hornbeam,
one of which, which comes from America, is called Iron
Wood (Carpinus Ostrya); and in England it is called the
Hop-HoRNBKAM, bccausc its seeds come in a sort of cone,
very much resembling a rather small and oblong hop.
This, however, is an ornamental shrub, and, of course, does
not come under our present inquiries. The common Horn-
beam of America very much resembles our own in all re-
spects, but MicHAUX says, that it is better for hedges, or,
at least, more ornamental, as its branches are more nume-
rous, and as its foliage is closer and more tufted,

M

The Hornbeam.

308. The use of this tree is to form lofty hedges for the
sheltering of kitchen gardens, and other such purposes ;
the wood is very close and hard, and fine grained, and is
sometimes used by turners for various purposes. It is also
very good as fuel ; but the tree rarely attains any conside-
rable height or bulk j and its great use is for the forming
of hedges; its shoots being so slender, and so numerous,
that they admit of clipping like the hedges made of Haw-
thorn, and a hedge, if well managed, may be kept thus
from twenty to thirty feet high ; and the leaf being very
beautiful, and adhering to the tree almost through the
winter, here is ornament as well as use.

309. The SEED is very hard: it should be carefully
collected in the fall of the year, when ripe: if sown directly,
part of it might come up the first year; but the best way
is, to keep it one year out of ground, precisely in the
manner directed in the case of the Ash seeds, in para-
graphs 107 and 108; and they should be sowed, in the time
and manner directed for the sowing of the Ash seeds in
paragraph 108, and the following.

310. The young plants come up with two little round
leaves, not so big as those of the smallest of the turnips ;
and great care must be taken to keep them clear of weeds.
They do not attain the height of more than four or five
inches the first year, when they ought to be moved into the
nursery, in the manner directed for the Ash. They ought
to stand in the nursery two years ; for they are but slow
growers at first. They are to plant as hedges, or as inde-
pendent ornamental trees. If the latter be intended, they
should have the ground well trenched for them, and made
rather good. There ought to be two rows of plants to form
the hedge, if it be intended to become lofty; the plants

Thk Larch.

should be two feet apart in each row, and those in one of
the rows should stand opposite the interval of the other
row. The whole of them should be cut down to the
ground the year after being planted. The main shoot of
each plant ought to be suffeied to go upright, and the side
shoots, instead of being pruned off, should, on each side,
from the very ground, if possible, be worked in a horizontal
direction, along amongst the uprights of the neighbouring
plants. In a year or two, you begin to clip with the shears
at the bottom of the hedge ; and, as the hedge mounts, you
keep twisting in the side shoots, and clipping the points,
until you have th§ hedge to the height you wish, when you
make the top either like the ridge of a house, or flat, as
may best suit your taste. The hedge, like that of the
Hawthorn, should be clipped twice a year ; in the winter,
and about the middle of July. Having omitted to mention
this under the word Hawthorn, I mention it here as
worthy of particular attention.

THE ZiAXlCa.

In Latin, Larix ; in French, Melpse.

311, The botanical characters are: — Male and female flowers, growing
separately on the same tree. The male flowers are disposed in a scaly kat-
kin ; they have no petal, but they have a great number of stamina, which
are connected in a column below, but are separated at tlieir points, and ter-
minated by erect summits. The female flowers are disposed in a conical
shape, having no petals ; these are placed in pairs under each scale, having
a small germen, supporting an awl-shaped style, crowned by a single stigma.
The germen afterwards becomes a nut, with a membranous wing inclosed
in the scales of the cones.

312. This is a tree about which there is not much to be

said by mej because, whether as to the manner of collect-

m2

The Larch,

ing, of getting out of the cone, or of sowing the seed ;
whether as to the manner of removing the plants into the
nursery, of putting them in phmtations, of managing
them in those plantations, of thinning them out into the
plantations, or finally as to cutting them down as timber,
every thing said under the head of " The Fir," is equally
applicable here j and, therefore, I have only to request the
reader to turn back to what has been said under that head.

313. But there is one use to which Larches are put, and
to which the Fir can scarcely ever be applied ; namely,
that of Hop-Poles, of which it makes not bad ones, when
the tree has attained a height, so as to make it about an
inch and a half through at twenty feet from the ground.
This pole is said to last as long as that of the Ash ; but it
has the fault which I mentioned under the head of Chesnut,
that of being too big at the butt in proportion to its height.
I am so decidedly of opinion that it is far more profitable
to plant Ash for this purpose, and more especially the Lo-
cust, as we shall see by and by, that I do not recommend
the planting of Larch for the making of Hop-Poles. If
planted for that purpose, however, the plants should not
stand at more than three feet apart, and should be kept
pruned up on the sides, as directed for the Fia and the
Chesnut, these being the means of keeping the butt of the
pole nearer proportioned in size to the point of it. But the
disadvantage of employing ground in this M^ay, for the pur-
pose of obtaining poles, must be evident to every one who
considers that, at three feet apart, an acre will contain only
4480 poles ; that the Ash or the Locust will, if you please,
contain just the same number at the first crop; and
that the Larch, when once cut down, never shoots again ;
while the Ash or the Locust will give you, in all i)robability,
from ten to twenty thousand poles out of the stems which

The Lime.

you have left in the p^round ; so that, at about three cut-
tings, either of the two latter will have given you about
forty thousand poles on the acre, while the Larch will have
given you only 9680 poles ; and, to obtain these, you must
grub the ground, trench a second time, and make a new
plantation of Larches. The trees are pretty, and they make
good timber when they are large. They are ornamental,
but they yield to many other trees even in that respect;
and, as poles, it can never be profitable to plant them,
especially when the Birch, the Ash, and the Locust, and
particularly the first and the last of these, will thrive any-
where where the Larch will thrive ; and though the Birch
does not make a good pole, it makes many other things of
as great and more general utility.

THE ZiIME.

In Latin, Tilia ; in French, Tilleul.

314. The botanical characters are: — The flower has a concave, coloured
empalement, which is cut into five parts; it has five oblong blunt petals,
which are crenated at their points, and many awl-shaped stamina, terminated
hy single summits, with a roundish germen, supporting a slender style the
length of the stamina, crowned by an obtuse five-cornered stigma. The ger-
men becomes afterwards a thick globular capsule with five cells, opening at
the base, with five valves, each containing one roundish seed.

315. There are several varieties of the LiaiE, and the
Common Lime in England is too well known to require
any description as to its outward appearances. It is well
known to attain a great height, to be very beautiful in its
foliage in the former part of the summer; to have a leaf,
however, that dies early, that becomes rather ugly by Au-
gust, and that litters the ground all over by the month of
September. This tree, which is never placed in plantations

The Lime.

for timber, and which is not worth a rush as underwood, is
merely an ornamental thing, having' a soft white wood, used
sometimes in toy-turnery, and for some other purposes of
no great consequence ; but the tree is greatly ornamental,
grows fast, and stands erect, especially if raised from the
seed.

316. The SEED of this tree is a little kernel of the size
of a very small pea, contained within a hard and toughish
shell, which shell is covered with a slender pulp. The
seed does not always ripen in England, but it sometimes
does, in very fine and hot summers ; and it may be gathered
early in September, in very great abundance, and with the
greatest possible ease.

317. Miller, after giving directions for raising this tree
from layers, says, that " if the tree be intended to grow large,
to raise from seed is the best way." The matter for surprise
is, that any one should ever raise a Lime from a layer, see-
ing that it is always intended to grow large, that it is want-
ed for its height, and the mass of its foliage, to make a
stately appearance in avenues, in clumps, or in inde|)endent
trees; therefore, I slmll give particular instructions relative
to this mode of propagation.

318. The time of sowing is the same as that of the Ash
(paragraph 108), only with a covering a little less deep.
The seed, when collected, should be made perfectly dry in
the sun, then mixed with very dry sand, and kept in that
state until about the month of August after it is collected.
The mixture may then be moistened a little, and kept fre-
quently turned ; and the sowing should take place in No-
vember, lest the seed should begin to sprout in the heap.
If you sow in the November after you have collected the

The LiMii.

seeds, some of them will come up, but, perhaps, not one out
of fifty. I have 5?everal beds of American Limes whicli I
sowed last March (it is now the 2d of March, 1828) : not a
seed came up ; but I have examined the beds, and believe
all the seeds to be sound.

319. When the plants come up, they will appear, as they
are, very tender, and the beds must be scrupulously kept
clear of weeds. It is a very bushy-rooted plant, takes root
with the greatest facility, and should be moved into a nur-
sery at the fall of the year, in the same manner as directed for
the Ash, in paragraphs 120, 121, and 122. In this nui'sery
the plants may stand a year or two, having been assorted,
as mentioned in the case of the Ash ; and, as Miller justly
observes, if you mean to have a fine, a straight-trunked, a
lofty, and a long-lived tree, you must not only raise from
the seed, but also plant the tree out where it is finally to
stand while it is young, certainly not more than three or
four years old. If you plant in parks, or in any place where
cattle go, you must fence round the trees effectually ; for,
if once cropped, the trees will never be beautiful; and if
only the side shoots be cropped, the cropping will disfi-
gure the tree, and prevent it from thriving.

320. If you wish your tree to branch out from the bottom,
as people generally do, when the trees are planted three or
four in a clump, or as independent trees, you must, of
course, refrain from cutting off the principal side shoots ;
but if you wish it to have a clear stem to any considerable
length, you must prune in the manner directed for the
Beech. When Limes are cut down, they send out great
numbers of young shoots from the sides of the old stem ;
but these never arrive at anything more than the forming
of a sort of bush j and the stem, with all its branching

The Lime.

roots to their utmost extent, ought to be gnibbed up and
taken out of the ground, making room for sometliing else to
grow.

321. Tliere are two sorts of American Lime : the White
Lime {Tilia Alha) and the Downy Limb {Tilia Pubescens),
These Limes, according to Michaux, do not rise to a
height, in general, equal to ours; but, as ornamental trees,
they very far surpass ours. In America, they are both
called by the name of Bass Wood, from the circumstance of
the inner bark being so excellent for the yielding that stuff
of which our garden mats are made. The wood of the
American Limes appears to be that of ours; but the trees
have this great advantage over ours, that the leaf is larger
in the White Lime, is of a more ornamental shape, and
preserves its bright green until the frosts come. The other
tree, the Downy Lime, is still more ornamental, the leaves
being of a very bright and beautiful green on the upper
side, and pretty nearly white on the under side. The man-
ner of propagating and of managing these trees, is, of
course, the same as directed for the English Lime ; the
same objections to the raising from layers apply here also.
It is surprising that people should not raise from the seed,
seeing that it is so much cheaper, as well as better in every
respect. I can never too often beseech the reader to remem-
ber, that a layer is a BRANCH of a tree; and that it is
against nature to expect a tall and handsome tree, with a
regular trunk, diminishing from the base upwards, to come
from a branch. Accordingly, we see them in the nurseries
rc([uiring everlasting attention, to prevent their growing
into forks and becoming bushy-headed. After all, they are
but poor scrubby things, full of knots and burrs from the
frequent cutting about, and the wonder is that they ever
maV:e anv figure at all.

THE X.OCUST.

In Latin, Robinia Pseudo Acacia; in French, Acacie.

322. The Botanical characters are : — The empaleinent of the flower is
small, of one leaf, and divided into four parts; the three upper segments
being narrow, but the upper one is broad. The flower is of the pea-bloom
kind. The standard is large, roundish, obtuse, and spreads open. The two
wings are oval, and have short appendixes, which are obtuse. The keel is
roundish, compressed, obtuse, and is extended the length of the wings. In
the centre are situated ten stamina, nine of them being joined together, and
the other standing single, terminated by roundish summits. It has an oblong
cylindrical germen, supporting a slender style, crowned by a hairy stigma ;
these are inclosed by the keel. The germen becomes afterwards an oblong
compressed pod, inclosing kidney-shaped seeds»

323. This is, in ray opinion, the tree of trees; it was, at
any rate, my desire to see this tree intro(kice(l into general
cnltivation in England, that induced me to import tlie seed
and to sell the plants here -, and that led, also, to the writing
and the publishing of this work. I shall, therefore, leave in
this article nothing unsaid that 1 know upon the subject;
and I believe 1 know as much on this subject, and perhaps
more, than any man in the world, and particularly as to the
propagation of the tree, which, when I have given the fullest
possible account of the valuable properties of the tree, I
shall make as easy to the reader as is the rearing of cab-
bages or turnips ; and that, too, at an expense so moderate,
as to make it next to impossible for any gentleman, who
has the seed, to refrain from cultivating this tree upon as
Urge a scale as liis possessions will permit.

The Locust.

324. There are several varieties of the Acacia, distin-
guished by the difference in the size of their leaves, by that
in the colour of the blossoms, by that of the size and shape
of the seed-pod, and by the size and shape of the seeds
themselves. Some of these varieties, according to Michaux,
yield but very indifferent timber, though they differ but
very little in the size and shape of the leaf, and in the size
and look of the tree itself. One of these is called the Yellow
fFbod, in America; another is called the Sweet Locust;
another is called the PVater Locust. I have seen several
trees, in England, of a Locust differing in appearance
and in blossom but very little from the Robiniaj but the
wood of which, as Michaux says, is good for very little;
so that the greatest care must be taken, as to the variety
of sort which is sowed.

325. This tree was first introduced into Europe by J.
Robin, a French botanist, who received it from Canada, and
cultivated it in France in the reign of Henry the Fourth.
— " To commemorate the introduction of so valuable a
" tree," says Michaux, " and to express the acknowledg-
" ments due to the person who had conferred this benefit
" upon the old continent, Linn.eus gave the genus to which
" it belongs, the name of Robinia." This, therefore, is that
particular sort of Locust, which word Locust is used by
Michaux because it is the name given to the tree by the
inhabitants of America, who had a right to give it what
name they pleased ; and which name I use, not only for that
reason, but to prevent any person, sending to America
either for timber or for seed, from being disappointed, there
being hardly one man in twenty thousand who knows the
tree by any other name. It is curious that Michaux, in
speaking of the fine trees which he had seen in America of
this sort, should mention those which he saw near Harris-

The Locust.

BouRGH, in Pennsylvania, it being from that spot" tliat I have
always received my seed ; and that part of Pennsylvania being
the most famous in the whole continent fof this sort of
timber. Harrisbourgh is situated on one of the banks of
the Sus(iuehannah River, and there, by the bye, is a suspen-'
sion bridge, built principally of Locust wood, stretching
across a river more than a mile wide, and under which, ves-
sels of no very contemptible size pass without lowering
their masts.

326. The outward appearance of this tree, its beautiful
leaves and flowers, are pretty well known in most parts of
England ; but it remained for me to make known the pro-
perties of the wood. These properties, too, are in part
mentioned by Miller ; and its surprising powers, whert
constituting parts of ships, are mentioned at full length in
Hunter's edition of Evelyn's Sylva. Notwithstanding
this, we never heard of a man in England that ever planted
this tree, until I took the matter in hand, except as a thing
of mere ornament, in which respect it certainly surpasses
any other in the world, but as such I should not have
deemed it worthy of notice. I have, at different times,
written and published upon this subject, through the chan-
nel of the Register, in which I began by producing certi-
ficates relative to the durability of the wood. 1 shall, by
and by, publish those certificates, which I collected, or, at
least, I paved the way for collecting, while I was in Long
Island, from the month of May, 1817, to the month of
October, 1819; a space of time that I was in voluntary
banishment, for the purpose of avoiding those dungeons
into which such numbers of the public-spirited and vir-
tuous reformers were put, deprived of the use of pen, ink,
and paper, and from which they were finally released (those
of them who survived their sufferings) without any charge

The Locust.

having been preferred against them from the first to the
last. Nevertheless, I did not forget my country, and the
duty I still owed to her. I was convinced that nothing in
the timber way could be so great a benefit as the general
cultivation of this tree. Thus thinking, I brought a parcel
of this seed home with me in 1819, but I had no means of
sowing it until the year 1823. I then began sowing it, but
upon a very small scale. I sold the plants; and, since that
time, I have sold altogether more than a million of them.

327. In other places I have said quite enough upon the
properties of the wood, upon the uses for which it serves,
upon the quickness of the growth of the tree, and also upon
the manner of planting it. All that I have said before
must, however, be repeated here; for, besides that new
readers are every day rising up, this is the book, this is the
part of my labours, where every one who cares anything
about them will look for what I have to say relative to this
tree ; for the manner of collecting and preserving the seeds
of which, and also of the manner of sowing which seed, I
have no where, as yet, given a full and detailed account j
and yet it is very material to give that account. I shall,
therefore, first repeat what I have said before, on the pro-
perties of the wood ; then on the quickness of the growth of
the tree ; and then I shall lay down the plainest possible
directions for the sowing of the seed, and for the managing
of the young plants.

328. The wood is very hard, and close and heavy ; it is
yellow, almost as box ; as hard as box, but the grain not so
fine. The durability of this wood is such, that no man in
America will pretend to say that he ever saw a bit of it in a
decayed state. This seems hyperbolical; but every Ameri-
can of experience in country affairs will, if appealed to,

The Locust.

confirm what I say. It is absolutely indestructible by the
powers of earth, air, and water. Its strength far surpasses
that of the very best of our Spine Oak. It is to this timber
that the American ships owe a great part of their superiority
to ours. The stantions round the deck are made of Locust ;
and, while much smaller than the stantions of Oak, will
resist a sea three times as heavy as the Oak will. The tiller
of the ship is made of Locust, because it demands great
strength and is required not to be bulky. For the same
reason, the martingales of ships are made of Locust. The
Locust is rather a rare timber in America; but sometimes
the futtocks or ribs of ships, are made of Locust ; and if a
ship had all its ribs, and beams, and knees of Locust, it
would be icorth two common ships. Further, as to ship-
building, that important article, the TRUNNELS, when
they consist of Locust, make the ship last, probably, twice
as long as if the trunnels consisted of Oak. Our Admiralty
know this very well, or at least they ought to know it.
These trunnels are the pins, of which so many are used to
hold the side-planks on to the timbers of the ship.
Trunnels is said to be a corruption from tree-nails ; but I
do not believe it. However, we know what these things
are : we know that they are an article of the very first im-
portance in ship-building; we know that the hardest of our
Spine Oak is picked out for the purpose ; and, with all that,
we know that the trunnel is the thing that rots first : for the
water, or, at least, the damp, will get in round the trunnel,
and between it and the plank; and if water or damp hang
about Oak, the Oak nill rot. All the American public ships
are built with Locust trunnels, and so are all the merchant-
ships of the first character.

329. Some of our own public ships have, I fancy. Locust
trunnels brought from America; and 1 have been informed.

The Locust.

that wlien Cropper, Benson, and Co., of Liverpool,
built their East Indiamen, they im[)orted the Locust
truniiels and some other of the timbers from New York.
We have a monstrous deal to do, in many respects,
to make our navy (gun for gun) a match for that of the
United States; but if we had accomplished every other
point, there would still remain want of timber, unless we
supplied ourselves with the Locust, at the least. The
Hickory we should want for handspikes, for mast-hoops,
and other hoops to go round the yards and stays. Various
other things would be wanted to make our ships as light
and as roomy as those of the Americans, and with the same
degree of strength ; but, without the Locust, it is impossible
to match them.

330. But, important as these matters are, these are, by
no means, to be compared to the various uses about build-
ings and fences. I have said that this wood is indestructi-
ble by the elements, except that of fire. How many thou-
sands of houses are rendered useless in England, every year,
by that thing which they call the dry rot, proceeding solely
from those villanous soft woods, which impatient people
take such delight in planting, and which carpenters of
delicate constitution take such delight in sawing and plan-
ing. English Spine Oak is stronger than Deal ; and if you
keep it dry, it will not rotj but let it lie in the wet, or
damp, and let the air get at it at the same time, and no
villanous Deal board will turn to earth more quickly. Win-
dow sills of the best of Oak will rot, if something be not
done to keep away the wet from getting imder them : and
in this very way the dry rot has got into many a house.
Oak door sills are rotten in a very short time. The ends
of beams and of joists, if they rest upon brick or stone,
where the moisture is constantly about them, rot in a few

The Locust.

years. The points of rafters, and the pins which hoUl
rafters together, arc always rotting. If these things were
made of Locust, your house would he safe for ages. Every
where, when you want something to lie sopping in the wet,
and at the same time to be exposed to the air, you should
have Locust. Endless are the uses to which it might be
put. A bottle-rack, for instance, that you want to stand out
of doors and hidden in some corner, a grindstone-stand, a
horse-block ; but, particularly, a cart-house, or anything
that requires piUarSy the bottoms of which are to go into the
ground. Go into any farm-yard in England ; I do not care
what farm-yard it is : and you shall find, in the cart-house,
one of these things : first, the posts that support the build-
ings rotting off very fast, just where they meet the groundj
second, those posts rotted off and cut off, and some stones
put under them, to the manifest risk of the cart-house;
third, the cart-house actually tumbling down in consequence
of the rotting off of the posts. This is notorious ; every
farmer, every landlord in the kingdom, knows it. Now, I
will insert a note from my memorandum-book, under date
of October 16, 1819. " At Judge Lawrence's, at Bayside,
" I saw a new cider-house, built against a hill, the upper
" story of it supported in front by some Locust posts. These
" posts, the Judge told me, had stood for forty years, or
" rather better, as the posts of a cart-shed." They were as
sound as they had been the first year they were cut down.
In our stables in England, you see stones put at the bottom
of the stall-posts. What a plague it is ! Little Locust trees,
only about seven years old, would, for these purposes, make
posts that would last for ever. Every one knows how the
sleeper (as I think they call it) rots ; that is to say, the piece
of wood that goes along at the bottom of each side of the
stall. We know, also, how the manger-posts rot off at

The Locust.

the ground. Use Locust timber, and it will wear out the
stone walls of the building.

33L I should fatigue the reader were I to enumerate
only a tenth part of the uses of this timber ; but, in short, if
the timber be imperishable, what need of anything more in
its praise ? Will, however, English people believe in this
imperishability ? I would not believe in such a thing, if no
jn'oof were produced ; and, therefore, I will now proceed to
the proof of the truth of what I have stated. The test of
imperishability is the situation ofapost or sill, being exposed
to air and water; or, rather, it being so situated as to lie
sopping in the wet. I was led, by circumstances to be stated, •
by and by, to entertain, while I was last in America, an
anxious desire to introduce this valuable tree into England.
After I had resolved to return in 1819, I set myself to work
to get some seed together, which I found to be no easy matter;
for the Locust tree is by no means abundant in any part of
America where I have lived ; but, how to go to work to
persuade English people that a little tree, chopped down,
and put into the ground as a gate post or pale post, would
stand there for a hundred years without rotting at all !
How to persuade English people to believe this; and to
believe, of course, that there was a timber about a hundred
times as good as their heart of Oak ! You shall hear how
I went to work to endeavour to effect this.

332. Li the latter end of August, in the year just spoken
of, I was at Plandome, the farm and residence of Mr.
JuDGK Mitchell, in Long Island. He was building a
new house on the spot where had stood the house of his
grandfather. There had been a little sort of lawn before
the door, enclosed by a pale fence. The fence had all

The Locust.

been pulled up, and there it lay, posts and rails and pale?.
I asked the Judge how long the posts had been in the
ground. He said eight-and-twentij years. Each post had
been a little tree, just chopped down, sawed off to the
proper length, and squared, and each containing about
half a foot of timber. They were all as sound as they had
been the first day that they were cut down ; and even the
little sharp edges left by the axe-chops, at the part where
the square part met with the un-squared part : even the
little axe-chops were sound. The Americans use what
they call stakes, to hold on the top-rail of what they call a
worm- fence. These are generally made of little limbs ot
trees, about eight feet long, and about the bigness of a
hop-pole. I saw many of these at Judge Mitchell's on
that day, which he assured me had been standing as stakes
for upwards of thirty years. I hinted to the men of Kent
that I would teach them how to make everlasting hop-
poles ; and this is a duty that I particularly owe to my
native town of Farnham, so famous for hops.

333. On the 25th of October of the same year, 1819, 1 was
in company with Doctor Peter Townsend, at Mr. Judge
Lawrence's, at Bayside, in the township of Flushing,
Long Island. I was talking to them about this Locust-
tree project; and here I cannot refrain from making an
observation which I have more than once made in my
Year's Residence -, namely, that, say what they Avill of the
selfishness of Jonathan, I say that he is the most truly
liberal of all mankind. At home, he never grudges his
neighbour his good fortune; he is always made happy by
his neighbour's success and prosperity : and, as to foreign
nations, he is always anxious that they should possess all the
j)roducts, all the inventions, all the improvements that he
himself enjoys. In conformity with this most amiable dis-

N

TiiK Locust.

j)osition, my excellent friends at Buyslde entered into my
views, abont introducini^ the Locnst into England. The
Judge showed me a j)o?t, which he said must be nearly a
hundred years old as a post. This post had been cut down,
when a little tree, and it had served in the capacity of what
they call a hog-gallows post. I examined it very minutely,
and I found it perfectly soimd, even to the very tips of it.
It was a post with a fork at the top of it. The points of
the fork had been chopped off in a careless manner ; and
there were these points perfectly sound. But the main
(piestion was, how was the post ivhere it met the ground ?
It was just as sound there as it was in any other part. It
had stood in a gutter, observe, for all these number of years.
Tiie water thrown to wash out the hogs had run down the
gutter, and had soaked down about the post. The nume-
rous sweei)ings and shovelings of the gutter, to take away
the blood and the mud, had worn away the post a little, as
they would have worn away iron j but still it was as sound
as on the day when it was felled.

334. Judge Mitchell was so kind as to give me a me-
morandum, signed by himself, relative to this post ; and
Judge Lawrence, not being so old as his brother Henry,
we sent for the latter, and he signed a memorandum, rela-
tive to the hog-gallows ])Ost. I dare say that every reader,
who delights in rural concerns, and who duly considers the
vast importance of this matter, will lament that he, also,
could not see these posts. If he happen to be in London,
HE MAY SEE THEM NOW ; for they are to be seen by
any body at the Office of the Register in Fleet-street. The
Manchester Magistrates brought out horse and foot to pre-
vent me from passing through their town. The Bolton
Magistrates put John Hayes in prison, for ten weeks, for
announcing that I had arrived at Liverpool in good health.

The Locust.

But my Locust posts came safely to London, and I came
soon after them, with the following memorandums in my
pocket.

Plandome, 23 August, 1819.
335. 1 HAVE this day given to William Cobbett a Locust post six feet Xoag,
and squaring tbree inches by three and a half, which is perfectly sound in all
its parts, and \vhich has stood in the ground, as part of a fence, in front of
my house, from the year ITOl until about five weeks ago, when the fence
was taken up.

Singleton Mitchell,

Bayside, Flushing, 25 Oct. 1819.
336. My brother, Effingham Lawrence, has this day taken up out of the
ground, and given to William Cobbett, a hog-gallows post ; that is, a post
liaving a fork at the top, for the purpose of lodging a pole on, and on which
pole hogs are, when killed, hanged up by the heels. This post is of Locust
Wood ; it was a single tree, and the whole of the lower part of that tree ; it
is, from extreme point to extreme point, eight feet eight inches long; from
the tip of one fork to that of the other, from outside to outside, it is seventeen
and a half inches ; there is a knot, the middle of which is fourteen and a half
inches from the end of the butt ; there is another knot eleven inches from the
middle of the fork j the circumference of the post, at the mid-distance from
the ends, is eighteen inches. I have known this post standing as a hog-gal-
lows post during f(yrly-four years. When I first knew it, it was a very old
post, 1 remember hearing my father say, that it was a wonderfully old post
then. I should suppose it to have been a post upwards ni fourscore years.

Henry Lawrence.

337. I have before mentioned, that Doctor Town^end
was with us at Bayside. The Doctor was acquainted with
a Mr. SMrru, of Smith's Town in Long Island, and he had
heard that there was a Locust post at Smith's Town, which
could be proved, by unquestionable testimony, to have
stood, without injury, for upwards of a hundred years. I
begged of the Doctor to get me proof of this, and to send it
to me to England. This he did, very punctually, as will
appear from the following documents.

n2

The Ijocust.

To Doctor Peter Tou'nsend.

338. SmitJi's Town, Long- Island, 25 Feb. 1820.

Dear Sir,— Yesterday morninj? 1 received the letter which you mentioned
having written me of the 22d, on the subject of the posts, to which 1 had cer-
tified, on the evening of that day, at the Judge's. 1 observe by an extract of
Mr. Cobbett's letter, quoted by you, that he is desirous of further information,
and mentions something of obtaining the post. This memento of antiquity,
though not intrinsically worth six cents, I would hardly part with for its
weight \a silver ; but such information as I can give you is cheerfully at his
service. There are many Locust posts in ray post-and-rail cross-fences, put
in by a former proprietor of the farm, who has been dead about twenty- six
years; probably some of them have been standing fifty years or upwards,
most of which are at this day in a perfectly sound state above and below the
surface of the ground. Since residing on this /aim (about three years since),
I have taken down an old barn which had been repaired by putting in new
sills and other parts of its foundation, under, as nearly as I can ascertain,
about forty-one or two years ago. One of these sills was of Locust, about
eight inches square, which, by the inattention of the proprietor, had been
buried many years under the dirt and filth which invariably collect about such
buildings ; the foundation timbers had all disappeared, and some of the posts
rotted and entirely decayed two or three feet above the base, when 1 took
possession here eleven years ago. In removing the dirt to manure my gar-
den, about two feet below the surface, I came to the Locust sill. While the
other timbers had all mouldered down, and some of them so far incorporated
with the dirt as scarcely to be distinguished or known from it, the Locust
was in so perfect and uninjured a state that I had a^;«i>- of a.rletrees made
from off it for a wagon, which are now doing good service. I recollect my
father's cutting a quantity of large Locust timber for market, some of the
limbs of which were converted into posts to put up a board fence near the
house. This fence I assisted in making : one side was flatted to receive the
board, and the posts set into the ground, with the natural bark on, for about
twenty-eight inches. Fourteen years aftervvards, and after my father's de-
cease, in making a new di?posiiion of the ground, 1 was present when my
brother Ebenezer took up these posts. There was very little visible decay
even of the bark, and the wood, when stripping the bark off, had the appear-
ance of being just felled. Many instances might be given of the durability
and usefulness of this very valuable timber. So sensible are we, in this quar-
ter, of its great worth, that e\ery farmer of common prudence is taking the
utmost pains to cultivate it, when and wherever he can. Should you make
any further communications to Mr. Cobbett, I beg you will tender to him my
best wishes for the health and happiness of himself and his family. With
sentiments of much friendship and esteem, 1 am.

Your obedient and most humble Servant,

Richard Smith.

The Locust.

339. Certificate.

There is a Locust post standing on the road side, about sixty yards from
Smith's Town River, and about one mile from Long Island Sound, into which
that river empties, in the Township of Smith's Town, Suffolk County, Long
Island, and opposite to my door. This post is a quarter section of a Locust
trunk which must originally have been about eight inches in diameter. I
have been informed by my uncle, Joshua Smith, father of the present Judge
Smith, that this post was placed there by his father, Daniel Smith, grandson
of the patentee of Smith's Town, in the year 1709. The soil in which the post
stands is a black loam, and about sixteeu feet above the surface of the river.
It is about two feet in the ground. On examining it about a year since, beli»w
the surface of the ground, it was found perfectly and thorougiily sound iu
every respect. Above the ground there is no appearance of decay or rot, and
no disfiguration whatever, except what has been caused by friction, or by its
long exposure to the weather. And all the effect of these causes has been
merely to roughen a little its surface. This post is alongside of a stone horse-
block, and was intended and is now used as a support to ascend the block.
Within a half-yard of this post there is also a flat red Cedar post, of about four
inches thickness, and which belonged to a trunk which must have been about
twelve inches in diameter. This post, which was set at the same time with
the Locust post, is not quite so sound below the surface as that. Above
ground it is also more decayed, and shows indications of having yielded more
to the influence of the weather than the Locust post iu the same part. The

top, particularly, is crumbling.

Richard Smith.

340. To Mr. Cobbett.

Sir,— At the request of my friend, Doctor Peter S. Townsend, I have given
the above Certificate with great pleasure, and hope it may answer the pur-
poses you have in view from it, as I stand pledged to vouch for its accuracy,
With much respect,

I am. Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble Servant
Richard Smith.

The Locust.

341. The fact, then, of the durability of this v/ood, is here
put beyond dispute. If it lasts sound as a post out of doors
for more than a hundred years, it may be fairly said to last
for ever. If it will make axletrees for a wagon, after hav-
ing lain as a barn sill in the wet and dirt for forty yeai-s, it
may be fairly said that it will yield to nothing but fire.
This tree has no sap. It is all of the same quality, and
Judge Lawrence showed me some with the bark on per-
fectly sound, after having stood more than twenty years. It
is all spine. It is just as hard when as big round as your
wrist, as when it is as big round as your body. Here are
liop-poles, then ! Here is stuff to make hurdle gates for
sheep-folding ! Here is stuff for clothes-posts and all sorts
of uses. A Locust hop-pole, when once pointed, would
serve, and that, too, without any more pointing, for half a
centuri/. At Fleet-street there is one of the stakes which I
mentioned above, and which I brought from the farm of
Judge Mitchell. Whoever looks at this stake will see
that it was a mere branch, and a crooked and poor branch,
too, cut off from a tree; yet it lasted as a stake for thirty
years f and is now as hard and as solid as it was on the day
that it was cut off the tree.

342. Will any one suppose, that the names that I have
made use of here, are not real names? Amongst the
wretched calumniators of the day, there may be some to
pretend to believe this; but no one will believe it. I wish,
however, to leave no doubt with regard to a matter, which,
as the reader will clearly see, I have long had my heart set
upon. I will therefore state, that Mr. Sing leton Mitchell
is a brother of the really celebrated Doctor Mitchell, of
New York, who has written so ably on natural history, M'ho
is famed for his learning, Avho is a member of most of the
learned Societies of Europe, and who is not less renowned

The Locust.

for bis learning thun he is for liis goodness. The Law-
rences are, Effingham, the uncle, and Henry, the father,
of Messrs. Lawrence, merchants at New York, Avho trade
with London and Liverpool. Doctor Townsend is the
brother of Mrs. Effingham Lawrence. He was in
London last June 1822, and must, doubtless, be known
to many of the faculty in London. In short, these are all
persons of the first respectability in every sense of that
word.

343. Before I dismiss this part of the subject, namely,
the great durability of the wood, it is bare justice to myself
to insert two extracts from other English works : the first
is part of a Note, by Hunter, in his edition of Evelyn's
Sylva; the second is an extract from the Gentleman's
Magazine of the year 1/91. I beg the reader's attention
to these extracts.

344. Note from Hunter's Edition of Evelyn's Svlva.

My excellent friend, Joseph Harrison, Esq., of Bawtry, has favoui'ed me
with the following observations, in a letter dated July 25, 1782 : — " The first
^' experiment that 1 know of, respecting the application of the timber of the
^' Locust-tree to any purposes in ship-building, was in Virginia, where I
" resided some time about the year 17.'^3; aud there, happening to be ac-
" quaiuted with an ingenious shipwright, that had been sent over by some
" merchants of Liverpool to build two large ships, 1 had frequent conversa-
'•' tions with him, respecting the qualities of the several principal timber trees
•* in that country. Being a person of observation, he had made many useful
" remarks on that subject; which the nature of his employment afforded
" many opportunities of doing with advantage. He reckoned the Oaks, Elms,
" Ashes, and many other timber-trees common to both countries, much in-
" ferior to the same sorts in England ; but frequently spoke of the Locust-
" .tree, as of ex.traDrdinary qualities both for strength and duration ; and used
'•'often to say, if a sufficient quantity could be had, it would be the best tim-
" ber he had ever met with for the building of ships. After he had completed
'^ his engagements with his employers at Liverpool, he set a small vessel on.
" the stocks for himself j but unluckily, not having a sufficient quantity of

The Locust.

" iron for that purpose, and none being to be had at that time in the country,
*' he was obliged to put a stop to the work, till he bethought himself of the
" following succedaneum : — He had formerly (as hinted above) observed the
** extraordinary strength and firniuess of the Locust-tree, and on this occa-
" sion took il into his head that tree-nails of that timber might be substi-
" tuted for iron bolts, in many places where least liable to wrench or twist,
*' as in fastening the floor-timbers to the keel, and the knees to the end of the
" beams, which two articles take up a large proportion of the iron used in a
" ship ; purposing, when he arrived in England, to bore out the Locust tree-
" nails, and drive iron bolts in their stead. When he first informed me of
" this scheme, I must own I thought the experiment very hazardous. How-
•* ever, as necessity has no law, he put it in practice. The ship Avas built in
*' that manner, loaded, and sailed for Liverpool, where she anived safe; and,
** though they met with some blowing weather on the passage, she never
" made so much water but that one pump could easily keep her free. She
*' returned back to Virginia the next year, when 1 had an opportunity of being
** informed, by the builder himself (who was then Captain of her), of what
♦' had been the result of his project. He said, that during the passage, espe-
*' cially in blowing weather, he was very attentive in examining the water-
•* ways, as, at that place, weak ships are most liable to work and strain ; but
" that he could not perceive anything more than is usual in other vessels.
" When unloaded, she was hauled ashore upon the bank, in order to be
•' searched both outside and inside; when, on the strictest examination, it
<' was found the Locust tree-nails, that had been substituted instead of iron
" bolts, seemed (to all appearance) to have effectually answered the purpose
" intended ; however, it was thought prudent to take several of them out, and
" put in iron bolts in their room : and this operation aflforded another proof
" of their extraordinary strength and firmness ; as they endured to be hacked
" out with a set-bolt, just as well as though they had been iron: whereas
" Oak tree-nails are usually bored out with an augur. The next voyage the
" ship made was to the West Indies, where the Captain died, and with him
" ended (for the present) any further prosecution of this matter : for, though
" the success of the above experiment was known to many, yet (as is fre-
*' quently the case with new discoveries) none, that 1 ever heard of, made
" any use of Locust tree-nails in ship-building till many years after ; though
" on the goodness of that article greatly depends the strength and durableness
" of a ship. I frequently recommended it, when op))ortunities offered, but
" all to no purpose, till about twenty years ago, when I was settled in trade
" at Rhode Island, I persuaded some ship-builders to try the experiment; but
*' notwithstanding all my endeavours, the use of Locust tree-nails still conti-
" nued to be little practised or known, till it happened to be adopted by a
" builder of some eminence at New York, and of late years has been intro-
" duced into general use there, and in some parts of New England; but, as

The Locust.

** yet, the use of the Locust-tree in ship-building is confined to the article of
" tree-nails, on account of its scarcity ; for, was it near as plentiful as Oak, it
" would be applied to more purposes, such as knees, floor-timbers, foot-hooks,
" &c., being much superior to it, both as to strength and duration ; and,
** from its spreading into branches, affords full as large a proportion of
♦' crooks, or compass-timber, as the Oak."

345. Extract from the Gentleman's Magazine.

The following Article appears In the Gentleman's Magazine far " Aug. 1 79 1 ,"
/ o/. CI. Part 2. page 699. It is signed Ehen. Jessitp. He is desalbed by
a Correspondent as an American gentlenum, and an undone Loyalist y hav-
ing lost a kn-ge fortune in the American war.

" It is proposed that an Act of Parliament be obtained, apportioning about
" 10,000 acres, or such a quantity of the lands in the New Forest and the
" Forest of Dean, as may be judged sufficient for the purposes of Government,
" to be set apart for growing Locust-trees, Live Oak, and White Oak, for the
" use of the Royal Navy of this country. The Locust is a wood of a remarkably
•• quick growth ; so much so, that twenty-five or thirty years will produce a
" large tree, fit for the uses commonly made of it. Its strength is equal to
•' that of the Oak, and it is of so durable a nature, that a stake driven into the
" ground has been known to stand exposed to the weather for the space of
" eighty or one hundred years, before it began to decay. This wood is found
" by the American shipwrights to be singularly useful in making the upper
*' works of large ships, and such particular parts of vessels as are likely to
*' decay soon. The Live Oak and White Oak are made use of for the same
** purposes as the Locust-tree ; and although they are of a less durable nature
" than the Locust, they are still more durable than the common Oak of this
*' country. The Locust is used for making of tree-nails orpins for ships ;
*' and twelve or fifteen years will produce a tree large enough for that parti-
" cular purpose. The Locust-tree grows well in this country ; and my Lord
" Amherst, to whom I had the honour of suggesting my plans upon this
" subject, informed me that he has Locust-trees now growing in his gardens.
" It is also beyond a doubt, that the Live Oak will grow well in this country.
*' The Locust-tree grows best in poor land, a dry, sandy, or gravelly soil,
"and such as will produce scarcely anything else — of such quality (as
*' well as of good land) there is a sufficient quantity already surveyed in
" the New Forest,"

The Locust.

351. I, like all other planters, was in haste. The naked-
ness of my house called for shelter. I bought large trees,
carried them to Botley at great expense, planted them;
but, by degrees, I pulled them all up, and flung them away,
except a row of them, placed against a dead wall, merely
as a screen. The plantation is, all taken together, the most
beautiful that I ever saw. It consists, in part, of my LO-
CUST TREES, planted in the three years before mention-
ed ; and of these I am now going to give an account. This
account will be read hundreds of years hence. The time
will come (and it will not be very distant) Avhen the Locust-
tree will be more common in England than the Oak ; when a
man would be thought mad, if he used anything but Loatst
in the making of sills, posts, gates, joists, feet for rick-stands,
stocks and axletrees for icheels, hop-poles, pales, or for any-
thing where there is liability to rot. This time will not be
distant, seeing that the Locust grows so fast. The next
race of children but one; that is to say, those who will be
born sixty years hence, will think that Locust-trees have
always been the most numerous trees in England ; and some
curious writer of a century or two hence, will tell his read-
ers that, ivonderfid as it may seem, " the Locust was hardly
" known in England until about the year 1823, when the
" nation was introduced to a knowledge of it by William
" CoBBETT." What he will say of me besides, I do not
know; but I know that he will say this of me. I enter
upon this account, therefore, knowing that I am writing
for centuries and centuries to come.

352. In 1806, I imported several kinds of forest-seeds
from the North American States, in which I had resided
from 1792 to 180Q. Of Locusts I sowed but little seed. It
was sown in the spring of 1806, and TWO of the plants
were planted out in April, I8O7

The Locust.

353. In 1808, I got some more seed; and, in 1809, I
planted FIVE of the plants. These, also, were planted in
Jprilj and very late in April.

354. In 1812, 1 sowed some more seed; and, in 1813 (in
j4pnl again), 1 planted out FIVE of the plants.

355. These plants always made part of a plantation, con-
sisting of several sorts of trees. I have not been to mea-
sure these trees myself; but they have been very carefully
measured under the direction of a gentleman, who lives in
that village, and who has been so good as to send me a
statement of the dimensions. The trees (for they are really
tlmher-trees) were measured thus : First, the height to the
tip-top; Second, the number of inches round, at the bottom,
then at three feet high, then at six feet high, then at nine feet
high and then at twelve feet high. If there were more than
one limb, both, or all the limbs, were to be measured as
high up as twelve feet. Now, then, for the dimensions. I
will speak of the soil afterwards.

356. The iico trees planted in April 1807, raised from seed
sowed in 1 80G. These trees have had seventeen years'
growth. '

No. I.
Height, 42 feet.
Inches Round, 68, at bottom.

58, at 3 feet up.

40, at 6 feet.

32, at 9 feet, limb 1.

22, at 9 feet, limb 2.

25, at 12 feet, limb 1.

18, at 12 feet, limb 2.

The Locust.

No. II.

Height, 38 feet.

Inches Round, 60, at bottom.

34, at 3 feet, limb 1.

34, at 3 fett, limb 2.

31, at 6 feet, limb 1.

33, at 6 feet, limb 2.

22, at 9 feet, limb 1.

22, at 9 feet, limb 2.

22, at 9 feet, limb 3.

17, at 12 feet, limb 1.

18, at 12 feet, limb 2.

18, at 12 feet, limb 3.

The Jive trees planted in April 1809, raised from seed sowed
in 1808. Fourteen years' growth.

No. III.
Height, 38 feet.
Inches Round, 28, at bottom.

24, at 3 feet np.

23, at 6 feet.
23, at 9 feet.

19, at 12 feet.

No. IV.
Height, 35 feet.
Inches Round, 28, at bottom.

22, at 3 feet up.

21, at 6 feet.

18, at 9 feet.

17, at 12 feet.

The Locust.

No. V.
Hkirut, 39 feet.

Inches Round, 26, at bottom.

23, at 3 feet iij).
20, at 6 feet.

14, at 9 feet, limb 1.
^ 13, at 9 feet, limb 2.

13, at 12 feet, limb 1.

12, at 12 feet, limb 2.

No. VI.
Height, 36 feet.

Inches Round, 24, at bottom.

22, at 3 feet up.

20, at 6 feet.

15, at 9 feet.

13, at 12 feet.

No. VII.
Height, 35 feet.

Inches Round, 22, at bottom.

20, at 3 feet up.

16, at 6 feet.

14, at 9 feet.
12, at 12 feet.

The Jive trees planted in April 1813, raised from seed sowed
in 1812. Eleven years' growth.

No. VIII.
Height, 39 feet.

Inches Round, 32, at bottom.

25, at .3 feet up.

24, at 6 feet.
19, at 9 feet.
16, at 12 feet.

The LocfTST.

No. IX.
Height, 38 feet.
Inches Round, 33, at bottom.

24, at 3 feet up.

23, at 6 feet.
19, at 9 feet.
16, at 1^2 feet.

No. X.
Height, 37 feet.
Inches Round, 38, at bottom.

30, at 3 feet up.

25, at 6 feet.

24, at 9 feet.

18, at 12 feet, limb 1.

19, at 12 feet, limb 2.

No. XI.
Height, 40 feet.
Inches Round, 36, at bottom.

30, at 3 feet up.

26, at 6 feet.
24, at 9 feet.
19, at 12 feet.

No. XII.

Height, 40 feet.

Inches Round, 38, at bottom.

31, at 3 feet up.
28, at 6 feet.
26, at 9 feet.

22, at 12 feet, limb 1.
16, at 12 feet, limb 2.

The Locust.

357. Now, let it be observed, that these trees are grow-
ing at Botley ; that anybody may see them there; that there
are thousands of persons who can bear testimony to the
rise of the plantation; that the men who planted these trees
are living, and 011 the spot too.

358. Did any one of my readers ever know, or hear of, a
growth of timber-trees to equal this? Larches and Firs,
even these soft things, were, perhaps, never known to get
up and to swell out as fast as this. I reckon the years of
growth from the year ofpla7iii?ig out to this year, inclusive,
though there is almost half a year less. The last tree, for
instance (No. 12), has not been planted out eleve7i years
until next April. And did Englishmen ever before hear cf
such growth of timber far better than Oak ? Look at the
dimensions of that tree. Forty feet high, three feet and two
inches round at the bottom, and its two limbs, at twelve feet
from the ground, just the same bigness. I regret that I did
not get the inches round at twenty feet from the ground.
But, only think of such a growth of wood ten times as good
as Spine Oak !

359. But, now, as to the soil. No soil can be too good
for such trees. But, the Locust will grow on almost any
soil. The reader will have perceived a great difference in
the rate of growth of the three plantations ; and 1 am now
about to show the cause of it. The first plantation (Nos. 1
and 2) was made in deep, rich, fine moidd. The third plan-
tation (Nos. 8 to 12) was made in good loam, and by the side
of running water. But the second plantation (Nos. 3 to 7)
was made in a poor gravelly soil, having about a foot of
earth, pretty well mixed with stones at the top, and then,
as you went down, more and more of gravel. In short,
very poor land indeed : a gravelly brow, with, at about four

o

Thk Locust.

feet deep, a bed of sour clay under the gravel. This ground
was, liowever, well tretiched, in the manner recommended in
this work : the gravel was kept at bottom, though the
ground was all icell moved to the depth of two or three
feet. But, wbo can reasonably wish trees to grow faster
than those of this second plantation. At the utmost, it is
but fourteen years old, and the average height is thirty-six
feet seven inclies ; the average bigness round at bottom is,
two feet four inches ; and, at twelve feet high, the average
bigness round is one foot five inches ; and the average dia-
meter is more than seven inches. Where do you find such
a growth as this, even of Firs f One of these trees is suffi-
cient for a common gate-post ; sufficient to cut sills of doors
and windows out of. And always, straight or crooked, fit
for ship-trunnelsj which are not above eighteen inches long,
and only about two inches through. You may plant to-
day, and have wood for ship-trunnels in five or six years'
time.

3G0. I beg the reader to look at the simpe of the above
trees. The two first were wanted to spread, and were,
therefore, pruned to have limbs come out not far from the
ground. The heads of these are about twenty feet across.
The others, from Nos. 3 to 12, were planted in close order,
not at more than four feet apart. They were kept pruned
to a single stem, until Sidmouth and Company drove me
off early in 1817. That year, and 1818, they went un-
pruned ; but I pruned them again at Christmas 1819,
though some of them had then got limbs too big to cut off.
My intention was, that they should have clear stems forty
feet long. The prunings of these few trees produced a good
large parcel o^ fire-wood ; and here is another important
matter ; for the Locust wood, green or dry, is the very best
for fuel. It is, at least, nearly equal to the Hickory, A log of

The Locust.

either, when once fairly on fire, will never go out. If it
be on fire at one end, and you leave it to itself in that state,
the fire will keep eating on till it has consumed the whole
log. What a difference, even in this respect, between this
wood and any wood that we have of common growth in
England !

361. This tree grows even better in England than in the
United States of America, generally. Along the coast, in
Pennsylvania, it will not thrive. It grows pretty well in
some parts of Long Island ; but not nearly so fast and
so clear as in England. They plant it in their fields,
though they have so much of natural woods. They
never neglect to cherish the Locust tree, though they
slaughter every thing else. It does not grow so fast as in
England. It is very dear, compared icith other timber. A
good large tree will fetch from ten to twenty pounds ; and,
while this is the price of Locust, they cut up the most
beautiful Oak-Wees for fire-wood /

362. We have this famous tree, and have had it for about
a hundred years, growing In our ornamental plantations. I
saw a tree or two that had been cut down in the gardens
of Lord Ranelagh, at Fulham, in 1819, just after my
return from America. These trees were sold to a carpenter,
and I bought one of them. 1 have applied the timber to
several uses, such as dog- houses, a icood-cutting horse, sills
for a smoke-house. I have had a icindoiv-sill, made of this
Fulham Locust, on purpose to show at the Office of the
Register, where any gentleman may now see it. It is about
seven inches through. I have also had some little blocks of
this wood cut out, and they are at the Office of the Register
for any one to look at, and, if good reason be given for it, to

o2

' The Locust.

be taken away. Some gentlemen may wish to send a block
to friends who are not in London. If the booksellers who
sell the Register in the country, should be applied to for
the purpose, by gentlemen in their neighbourhood, a block
of the wood may be sent to them. There is nothing like
seeing in cases like this.

363. Now let us see what are the inducements to the
growing of the Locust. Its use, at the earliest stage, would,
perhaps, be hop-poles. The ordinary height of a hop-pole
is about fifteen or sixteen feet. To obtain poles of sixteen
feet would require, in land worth a pound an acre, annual
rent, six years' growth, and no more. You see, that, in my
waterside plantation, there is an average height of thirty-
nine feet. This is in eleven years. And, in the gravel-
brow plantation the average height, at fourteen years' end,
is thirty-six feet seven inches. You must cut off four feet,
perhaps, to come down to wood big enough for the top of
a hop -pole. This leaves thirty-two feet seven inches ; and
that is sixteen feet three and a half inches for each of the
seven years. But, it is well known, that, as to height, a
tree goes much farther in the first four or five years, than
it does in the same number of years afterwards. The fact^
as to these trees is, that they were fit for hop-poles at Jive
years from the day of planting out.

364. Four feet each way is the distance for planting j
and, then, an acre contains two thousand seven hundred and
twenty. Let us see the cost. The items are : the rent of
the land for six years j the taxes and rates ; the trenching
of the land, for, without this, half your time is lost ', the
plants ; the planting ; the hoeing for three years. You
must hoe twice, once early in June, and once early in

The Locust.

August (in d?y weather), for the three first years; to keep
out grass and weeds. After that, nothing will grow under
the shade, so complete will it be.

365. We are going upon the supposition that the planter
rents the land. A very disadvantageous supposition ; but,
let us take it ; supposing him to have a lease of twenty-one
years. He cleans his ground well j and then, in the winter,
this very winter, he has it trenched in the manner de-
scribed in this work, keeping the good soil at the fop, and
especially if there he gravel or clay at the bottom : but, in
short, trenching in the manner there descrihed. I always
planted in ^p?7Z ; but, it is late; and I would advise the
supposed planter to do it earlier. I suppose him to have
plants of the middle size. In his twenty-one years, he will
have three (at least) cuttings of poles ; for, when he has
cut his first crop, up springs another; and he will now, at
this second cutting, gettico ormore poles from each plant. He
will have more at the third cutting. How much is a sixteen
feet hop-pole worth, that does not require shaving, and that
will last forty years? An Ash pole, when shaved, will last
three years, and, a part of it, foiir years; but, a bit must come
off at the bottom of it in each of the two last years, which
makes it but short; and, by this time, it is wholly unfit to
stand against the wind, when loaded with the binds and leaves
and hops. One Locust pole is, then, worth more than ten Jsh
poles, because there is ten times as much cost in carriage, and
ten times, nay, thirty times, as much cost in pointing; besides
the falling off in length in the Ash pole, during the two last
yearsof itsservice. The carriage is, perhaps, upon an average,
one-third part of the cost of the pole. Taking all these things
into consideration, one Locust pole must be worth nearly
a score of Ash poles of the same size and length. What is

The Locust.

an Ash pole worth ? I should suppose, that, take Kent,
Surrey, Sussex, Worcester, Essex, and all the hop-planta-
tions upon an average, a fair Jsh pole of sixteen feet cannot
be worth less than threepence, besides carriage. At this
rate, and taking all the differences of the two into view, a
Locust pole is worth nearly a crown. But, suppose it to be
only ten times as good as the Ash ; nay, suppose it to
be only four times as good, it is then worth a shilling : and,
indeed, it is worth a great deal more. How, then, stands
the account of the acre of land for the twenty -one years?

At the end of the first Six Yean.

Cr. £. s.

2720 Poles, at Is 136 0

Dr. £. s. d.

Six years' rent 6 0 0

Taxes and rates 4 0 0

Trenching, at 9d. a rod .... 6 0 0
Plants, at Us. a hundred.... 14 17 0

Planting 0 15 0

Six hoeings in three years ... 2 8 0
Interest of money advanced.. 8 10 0

42 10 0

Profit.... £93 10 0

At the end of the second Six Years.

Cr. £. s. (1.

5440 Poles, at Is 272 0 0

Dr. £. s. d.

Six years' rent 6 0 0

Taxes and rates 4 0 0

interest on advances 2 10 0

12 10 0

Profit £260 10 0

Thb Locust.

At the end of the third Six Years.

Cr. £. s. d.

5440 Poles, at Is 272 0 0

Dr. £. s- d.

Six years' rent 6 0 0

Taxes and rates 4 0 0

Interest on advances 2 10 0

12 10 0

Profit ^260 10 0

First six years 93 10 0

Second 260 10 0

£614 10 0

366. This is the result at the end of eighteen years.
Then the tenant may grub upf or sell the stems and the
three years' growth to the landlord. This is all plain, and
all true ; but, it would, doubtless, be prevented by tJie
increase of Locust plantations. However, this conclusion
is undeniable. A product like this may be relied upon, as
safely as may a crop of wheat of four quarters to the acre,
in wheat land which is in good order for the wheat.

367. If the plantation were for timber trees, the distances
ought still to be the same, and the whole of the trees might
stand till each was seven or eight inches through at six feet
from the ground. Then a part might be cut down. Pro-
bably it would be a good way to leave the trees then, at
eight feet apart, this would give two thousand and forty
trees to cut down ; and would leave six hundred and eighty
trees to grow on. The two thousand and forty trees cut
down, are each of them fit to make a common gate post ;
or, perhaps, to make from four to six window sills ; or a
couple or more of door sills, or a couple of park-pale
posts. These trees could not be worth less than five shil-

The Locust.

lings a-piece. The above trees from number three to
number seven, fourteen years old, cannot, at this moment,
be worth less than five shilling's a-piece. Each of them
must have, at least, three feet of timber ; and what timber
is there that anybody can buy for twenty-pence a foot ?
The worth then, of this weeding- of the plantation would
be, five hundred and fifteen pounds per acre at the end of
fourteen years. The six hundred and eighty trees remain-
ing would be worth a great deal more than a pound a-piece,
at the end of another seven years. Thus an acre of land,
besides paying rent and taxes, would yield a profit of more
than a thousand pounds in twenty years.

368. When I made my little plantations of 1809, I
planted, in a Jield, about six acres, partly of Locusts, partly
of Ash, and other trees. In consequence of Ellenborough,
Grose, Le Blanc, and Bayley sending me to prison in
1810, this plantation got smothered with weeds, and a
bailiff ploughed it up in 1811. A little piece of this plan-
tation was left, it happened to be of Jsh. The plants stood
at the rate of four thousand eight hundred and forty upon
an acre. The trees upon the piece which was not ploughed
up, are now worth, I should think, a couple of shillings
each J and that is at the rate of four hundred and eighty-
four pounds an acre. So that there is nothing so veiy won-
derful in the calculation relative to the Locusts, the profits
of which, I have, indeed, greatly under-stated.

369. In the year 1810, the Spring of that year, I sowed as
many Locust seeds as I thought would produce plants suf-
ficient for an hundred acres of land ; that is to say, two
hundred and seventy-two thousand. I intended to plant
these hundred acres in six distinct parcels of land, I having
then six children j and I intended that each child should

The Locust.

have one parcel, and that my sons should all be farmers. I
saw the seeds come up in the Spnng, most beautifully,
and the scheme seemed to be in a fair way of accomplish-
ment. But, alas ! Ellenborough, Grose, Le Blanc, and
Bayley laid hold of me, in the following month of July !
Away went the Locust trees ; and I became pitted, life for
life, against the THING, under the existence of which, I
liad been condemned to live with felons for two years of
my life ; to pay a fine of a thousand pounds to the King ;
and to be held in bonds for seven years after that ; and all
this because I had expressed my indignation at the flogging
of Evglislimen, in the heart of England, under a guard of
German bayonets. The poor little Locust trees were buried
amongst weeds and speedily destroyed j but I took care of
the sons, who, however, have been prevented from be-
coming farmers.

370. IMy plan had nothing in it that was not most rational ;
and if I had now a hundred acres of land, or even fifty
acres, I would not part with a single Locust plant, except
to oblige a friend. It will not be long, I dare say, before I
shall make anotiier sowing, with much about such a design
as I had before ; and Ellenborough, Grose, and Le Blanx
will not disturb my project, at any rate ; for which God be
praised ! When the plantation of the trees from number
three to number seven was going on, one of the men ob-
served that the trees were very small. I said, small as they
are, we shall see them grow into great timber trees. One of
the men, whose name was Gurman, said: " Our grand-chil-
dren may. Sir, but we never shall." — " I beg you will speak
for yourself," said I ; " for I expect to live to see them as big
round as my body." There is hardly a tree of them that is. not
that already. And, indeed, it is a sorrowful instance of hu-
man frailty, that uienare deterred from planting because they

TMb Locust.

think that they, themselves, shall not see the trees come to
perfection.

371 . In the above accotmts of expenses, I have omitted
the expense of pruning, or, at least, of felling- and trim-
ming the poles and trees. These expenses will fall greatly
shortof the amount of the ^re-icootZ. The Iop,hovvever,will
not be very great, seeing that the trees are to be constantly
pruned, whether for poles or for timber. My trees of the
two last plantations would have run out into limbs, like the
two trees of the first plantation, if 1 had not been careful
about the pruning. You must, also, be careful to prune
in time ; and sometimes to give, not only a winter pruning,
but a summer pruning also. This, however, is a very
trifling matter ; for a clever man, with a good knife, will
go over an acre in a day, and pick up his cuttings into the
bargain ; though, perhaps, the summer cuttings are hardly
worth picking up.

372. I have only one thing more to observe as to the cul-
tivation ; and that is, that I advise to cut down the trees, early
in the month of May, the year after having planted them out in
April. Early in May they begin to show their leaves, and
then I cut them down within an inch of the ground, taking
care to have a very sharp knife, and to hold the stem of the
plant firm, so as to prevent the root from being loosened by
the operation. If the plant be of a tolerable size when
planted ; if the ground be well prepared, and the planting
well performed, the tree will send up a shoot of full four
feet the first year. You must have your trees looked over
in about a fortnight after cutting them down, and again, in
about a month, to see whether there be more than one
shoot coming out from each stem. If there be, you must
rub off all but the strongest. If this should be neglected.

TiiB LoGtftt.

which it ought not, by any means, you must take cafej
when winter comes, to have but one shoot to each stem.

373. " It is a pity to cut it down !" How often have 1
heard this exclamation from persons, and persons of great
sense, too, when I have advised them to cut their young
trees down. Even gardeners and nurserymen are, in many
cases, with difficulty prevailed upon to refrain from acting
upon the notion of this exclamation ; which means, in
fact, that it is a pity to have straight and fast-growing trees.
A neighbour of mine, the late Mr. Clkwer, of Botley, told
me, that he sowed, when he was a young man, three acorns,
in a row near to each other. I forget the number of years
that he suffered the plants to remain when he cut two of
them down close to the ground, leaving one of them un-
touched. At the end of two years afterwards, he cut down
again one of the two which he had cut down before, leaving
the other two untouched. At the end of twenty years, the
result was, what I cannot precisely recollect ; but, as far as
I can recollect, the tree which had been cut down twice,
was a great deal taller and bigger than the tree which had
been cut down only once ; and that even this was half as
tall again, and more than twice as big round at the bottom,
as the tree which had not been cut down at all. If this
be the case, with regard to trees that have never been trans-
planted, how necessary must it be to cut down transplanted
trees !

374. Great part of the foregoing paragraphs, relative to
the Locust, were written and published in 1823. In 1825,
I wished to produce proof of the quickness of growth, from
the plantations or plantation of some other persons or per-
son. An instance of the superiority of the Locust over
other trees in point of quickness of growth, I had seen in

The Locust,

a plantation of Mr. Gunter, at Earl's Court, less than a
mile from the village of Kensington. I therefore had the
trees measured, one by one j and published a list of the
trees ; but afterwards I took the average of them, in order to
save room. There were several trees of each of the sorts;
about fourteen Locusts, twelve Scotch Fir, eight Svca-
MORE, ten Spanish Chesnut, ten Beech, eleven Ash, and
thirteen Oak. I added the dimensions together of the
trees of each sort separately ; and then found the average
measurement, by a division by the numbers that there
were of each tree; the result being as follows :

375. I have now taken the plantation of Mr. Gunter, at
Earl's Court, not a mile from Kensington. This planta-
tion was made FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. It consists of
LocustSy Scotch Fii's, Sycamores, Limes, Spanish Chesnnts,
Beeches, Ashes, and Oaks. I have, by permission of Mr.
Gunter, had the trees of this plantation measured with
great exactness. The whole of the trees were planted at
one time. The soil is everywhere the same. The trees were
mixed in the plantation; and, therefore, this is as fair a
trial, as complete a proof, as can possibly exist. Each tree
was measured to ascertain the INCHES round at the bot-
tom, then round six feet up, then round twelve feet up, then
round the biggest limb, and then the height of the tree in
FEET, was taken. To save room, I shall only give the
average dimensions of each sort of tree ; so that here we
have an account, from which a comparison can be made in
a moment. The reader will be surprised to see the vastsupe^
riority of the growth of the Locust, over even the softest
and most fast-growing of our English trees; but there are
the trees to be seen by any gentleman that will apply to Mr.
Gunter's bailiff, who, I believe, planted the trees. And,
as to the soil, it is likely to be good; but it is the same for

The Locust.

■ .a

all tlie sorts. Look, then, at this table. See the vast differ-
ence. See one limb of every Locust nearly as big round
as thcbottom of the trunk of every Oak. See the Locusts,
at twelve feet up, as big round as the Ash, at th e ground.
See the Locust, in all the different girts, a great deal MORE
THAN DOUBLE the average of all the other trees taken
together; and, finally, see the Locust twenty-seven feet
high, while the average of all the other trees is less than
eighteen feet.

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15

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Ash

Oak

376. This point is, then, settled ; and it is here proved,
that it is an error to suppose, that quick-growing trees are,
for that reason, trees of soft and perishable timber. It is cer-
tain, that the American Red Cedar, and the Live Oak, which
are everlasting timber, are very slow growers ; and our Oak
is also a slow grower, as will be seen above. Our Vew is
the same, and it is everlasting. But our Elder, which is,
when young, the very fastest grower that we have, is, though
it gets to but little size, as durable as the Yew or the Locust.

377. The Locust is not a tree to thrive to a very old age.
It is in its prime in about thirty or forty years. There are
many iii Kew Gardens three feet through ; and I bought, a

The Locust.

few years ago, two very large butts, cut down in tlie garden
at the Stable Yard, St. James's Park. Tliese were, 1 should
think, full three feet through ; and there is a Locust-tree, in
the garden of a school, formerly kept by a Miss Tasker, at
Brook-Green, Hammersmith, with a trunk ten feet round, and
guessed to he Jifti/ -four feet high. But, one great excellence
of this tree is, it is fit for use at any age above four or five
years. At this first age, it will do for stakes. It has wo
sappy part. Mr. Gunter's trees would now make as good
Locust-pins as any older tree. So that as to what age the
tree will continue to thrive, is of no consequence at all. If
Mr. Gunter's trees were now to be cut down, the fourteen
Locusts would be worth ten times as much as all the rest of
the plantation, though they make about a hundred and sixty
in number. What, then ! will the Government send to Ame-
rica for Locust-pins, while they may have them grown in
WooLMER Forest, in about ten or fifteen years ? Will they
not plant these trees ? It will be done, at last, in spite of
the pretty gentlemen, if not with their good will. They
must, however, take care what seed they get. There are seve-
ral sorts of Locusts, that I know of, and they are all called
Locusts in America. As to getting the seed from France,
where, as well as in England, the sorts have been planted
promiscuously, and without knowing any thing of the quali-
ties of the wood, such seed never can be relied on. I do
not know the seed of some of the sorts, one from the
other; but I know the plants the moment they appear above
ground. But, if / have a channel that I can rely on for the
obtaining of this seed, surely those may, who have hun-
dreds of thousands to expend in naval victories on the Ser-
pentine River, and on enterprises equally useful and equally
glorious.

378. 1 was just about to close, or rather to cease to

The Locust.

speak of the quickness of tlie growth of the Locust, when
it occurred to me, that it might not be amiss to obtain an
account of the progress of the plantations of Lord Folke-
stone, now Earl Radnor, mentioned by xae in the Re-
gister during my « Rural Ride " in the fall of 1826. The
History of these plantations is the most interesting, that
can possibly be, to all those who are engaged in planting
or who intend to plant. In 1822, very late in the month of
May, I sowed some Locust in my garden at Kensington,
Not being prepared for the sale of them in 1823, and not
having room to transplant them at Kensington, I got a
friend in Sussex, to let me transplant them in a part of one
of his fields. They were taken in a wagon, tied up in
bundles just like so many fagots, and carried to the dis-
tance of thirty miles. They were transplanted in rows at
eighteen inches apart, the plants at about eight inches
apart in the rows. They were thus put into the ground in
very hot weather, between the 6th and the 8th MAY, both
days inclusive. The next year, 1824, 1 began selling trees ;
and I engaged, that Lord Folkestone should have the
whole of those, which had been put into the field in Sus-
sex. His Lordship intended to plant, and did plant them,
on his estate at Coleshill, a village in Berkshire, lying on
the road from the town of Farringdon, to the town of
Highworth, being rather nearer to the latter than the for-
mer. They were taken up in the field in Sussex on the
13th March (1824), the morning of the day being fine,
but there being a heavy fall of snow in the afternoon. The
next day, it snowed again, and it being Sunday, the trees
remained lying on the ground in bundles, until Monday
the 15th when the wagon arrived to take them to Coles-
hill. The bundles made a very great load for the wagon,
rising about six feet above the raves or tops of the sides of
the wagon. They were not packed up with straw or

The Locust.

mats; but a little fern was laid on the insides of the
wagon, and over the top of the load, a single mat was
put over the whole, and then the load was bound on with
a rope like a load of straw. The trees were, I think, three
days upon the road, and, of course, could not be planted
out before the latter end of March.

379. There appeared to me to be about forty or fifty
acres in the whole of his Lordship's plantation, covering
the side of a hill of gentle declivity, in a part of his park.
The plantation consisted of all sorts of forest trees ; but, the
Locusts were not mixed with the other trees, and were
placed in clumps of one hundred, two hundred, three hun-
dred, or more. When I saw them in the fall of 1826, they
appeared to be, upon an average, of more than twelve feet
high ; and, at a distance, they looked like clumps of trees
which had been planted many years previous to the plant-
ing of the trees of the rest of the plantation.

380. I was desirous, upon the present occasion, to be able
to state very accurately, what were the size and height of
them NOW at the end oifour years of growth. With this
view, I wrote to Mr. Daniel Palmer, who is Lord Rad-
nor's bailiff at Coleshill, and who had planted the trees, to
measure all the trees, one by one, contained in one of the
above mentioned clumps. He took a clump which had
ninety-two trees in it. He numbered the trees from one to
ninety-two, and sent me on the 6th of this present month
of March, the measurement of each individual tree' in the
following manner : L The bigness in inches round just above
the ground : 2. The bigness round the trunk at six feet above
the ground : 3. The height of each tree, from the ground to
the top of the topmost twig. I have added these dimensions
together, dividing, in each case, by ninety-two ; and the ave-

The Locust.

rage, casting away in eacli a trifling fraction, is as follows :
Bigness just above the ground, eight inches and a half round :
bigness of the trunk six feet from the ground, six inches
and a half: height, sixteen feet. Mr. Palmer tells me,
that this clump is inferior to some of the others. He men-
tions one containing four hundred Locusts, the average size
just above the ground, ten inches and a half; six feet from
the ground, seven inches, and the height twenty-two
feet. He mentions a third clump containing two hundred
Locusts, nearly the same in bigness round as those in
the last-mentioned clump, and in height nineteen feet.
The reader will please to observe, that these trees were
planted in the month of March 1824, and that, therefore,
they have now been just four years in the ground. He
will also please to observe, that the trees of the two last-
mentioned clumps must at this very moment be fit for hop-
poles, and that they will last in that capacity for twenty or
thirty years at the least. The trees in the two last-men-
tioned clumps would split, and be more than sufficiently
big to make the end bars, of what are called hurdle gates
for sheep and cattle, in which capacity they would last for
a life-time or two, instead of lasting for four or five years,
as is the case with OAK. These trees are, upon an average,
now worth a shilling a-piece ; but, suppose they take
another year to bring them to this point : they stand
upon exactly five acres of ground ; reckon rent and
taxes at two pounds an acre (for j)lantations are ii/the free),
that would amount to fifty pounds for the five years.
Allow six pounds an acre for the trenching and culti-
vation; that brings the charge to seventy-three pounds. The
trees would now cost, out of my nursery, and finer trees
than those were, for each hundred ten shilling?;, or five
pounds a thousand ; or, for thirteen thousand six hundred^
which was the number sent to Cole?hill, 68i., making the

p

The Locust.

wliole charge 134/. Thirteen thousand, six hundred trees,
at a shilling a-piecc, amount to six hundred and eighty
pounds ; and these trees will be worth that money next
year, better than an Ash pole of twelve or fourteen years
growth is worth six-pence. The profit then would be of
these five acres of plantation 529/. ; exceeding any of the
calculations made by me in the former part of this article.

381 . A plantation will be converted to diffefent uses to
accord with the different circumstances of the country in
which it stands. Tliere are no hop-grounds near to Coles-
hill ; but there are always various uses for wood that is
three inches through or nine inches round. Most likely
these trees will be thinned out for some of those uses. One
half left, that half would become posts sufficient for mode-
rately sized gates, or paling, or for sills to windows or doors;
and then they are worth a crown a-piece ; and whoever lives
to see these trees at the end of ten years of growth, will
see them worth that crown a-piece. So that a plantation
of about a hundred acres would, at the end of twenty years^
in tolerably good ground, be a fortune, not to turn up the
nose at even by the son or daughter of a peer.

382. But, in countries where hop-poles are wanted, and
where Ash poles sell on an average, I believe, at three
pounds a hundred, what would be the value of a planta-
tion like that of Lord Radnor? At the end of five years
his trees would bring a shilling a-piece j being cut down,
each stem would send up two or three. He would have
three times the number of shillings at the end of another
five years ; for, they would become poles a great deal sooner
the second time than the first. Mr. Withers, an eminent
attorney near Holt in Norfolk, who has written very ably
and very usefully on the subject of planting, and particu-

The Locust.

larly on the planting of Locustsj has produced several
shoots from his plantations of one year's growth from stems
that have been cut down, and, amongst these shoots, there
was one more than nine feet long, and six inches round at the
bottom, coming from the stem of a young tree, which had
been cut down, on account of its having been broken by
the wind. Mr. Daniel Palmer tells me, that there were
eight trees in the clump, where he measured the ninety-
two, which were short and unworthy of the rest ; that he
took these eight trees up last year, planted them in another
place, and cut them down to the ground at once j and that
they, though just removed, made shoots of six feet hng
last summer. It is, however, perfectly notorious, that the
cutting down of trees causes them to shoot in this vigorous
manner. It is impossible, that, when a Locust pole can
be had for a shilling, anybody will ever give three pence
for any other sort of pole ; and, it is also impossible, that
any man of sense should not perceive, that this is the most
profitable tree that can possibly be planted. Mr. Pal-
mer gives nie an account of the size and height of the
trees in the general in the mixed plantation where the Locust
plants stand ; and upon reducing these to an average, as
nearly as I have been able, they appear to me to be less
than one-third part of the size and height of the Locust ;
to say nothing at all about the inferior quality of the wood.
Not one penny of profit can come out of that general plan-
tation for twenty years yet to come. Three crops of Locust
poles, or two crops of Locust posts, may be taken off the
ground before you can put an axe or a hook into the rest
of the plantation ; and yet, even plantations like that are
very desirable things.

383. I have now left no doubt in the mind of any reader
as to the great durability, the various important uses, and

p2

The Locttst.

the quickness of growth, of this tree. It remains for me
to speak in detail of the manner of propagating it, which is
only from the seed, which it bears in great abundance, but
which will seldom come to complete perfection in England.
My seed has always come from the neighbourhood of Har-
visbourgh in Pennsylvania, and each seed is nearly double
the weight of any that I have ever seen gathered in this
country. The seed is gathered in the fall of the year, and
it keeps best in the pod ; but, if made perfectly dry before
it is put up, and always kept in a dry place, it will grow,
though not so well perhaps, after being kept for several
years. The seed is as nearly as possible in shape like a
kidney bean, but not above a tenth part so big as the seed
of the common white running bean ; its colour is a very
dark brown. If sown in the fall of the year, or early in
the winter, a part of it will come up in the spring of the
first year ; but it will be only a small part ; and, the plants
which do come up, will, if there be sharp frosts, be very
nearly destroyed. I sowed this seed repeatedly, and had
very little success. I asked Judge Mitchell in Long
Island, who had a nursery of these plants even in that
country, how he got them to come up : he answered in two
words, "boil them!" "Boil them," exclaimed I. The con-
versation was turned off upon something else ; but when I
found such great difficulty in getting the seeds up at Ken-
sington, I recollected the precept of Mr. Mitchell, and
I resolved to put it in practice, which I did with complete
success ; not by absolutely boiling them,but by soaking them
in boiling hot water.

384. There is, however, a good deal of nicety attending
this matter, therefore I shall describe the process very mi-
nutely. When you have i)repared the beds, in the manner
described for the Ash, take in the morning as much seed

The Locust.

as you think you can conveniently sow before night j put
it into a tub or some vessel, sufficient to hold the seed, with
water five or six times as much in measure as the seed ; then
take water at full boil out of your copper or other boiling
vessel, pour it upon the seed ; give the seed a stir up amongst
the water, cover over the top of the vessel close, and there let
the seed remain for an hour or so. Then take off the cover of
the vessel ; and raise up some of the seed by a ladle, or some
such thing, and look at your seed, some of which you will
find swelled to nearly double their former size, and some of ,
them hardly augmented at all in size. Another hour, or
perhaps less (and you ought to look frequently at them),
will have made all the seeds swell, except a small part
perhaps, and those will not grow at all. Then pour the
seed, water and all, into a fine sieve, which will let the
water through and keep the seed back, have some dry sand
ready with'a hole made in the middle of the heap, to put
your seeds into, and then mix up the whole heap of
sand with the seeds, about three gallons of sand to one gal-
lon of seed.

385. Your beds are already prepared, and now you scatter
the seed over them along with the sand, in the manner de-
scribed in the case of the Ash. Do not sow too thickly ; if you
do, many of the plants will be destroyed by the others,and will
be very weak and not fit to plant out the first year at least. If
sowed thinly, and if the ground be good, and the beds kept
clean, your plants will be four feet high by the month of
October, quite fit to go into plantations out of the seed bed.
My plants are always sold from the seed bed, and a very
large part of them are fit to go into plantations at once;
but this cannot be the case, if the plants be sowed thickly.

386. 1 have never sowed Locusts till the month of April,

The Locust.

or very late in March ; because, by soaking they are made
to come up in the space of a fortnight, and they should not
come up, till the sharp frosts be all gone. But, when seeds
have been soaked in this manner there is great care re-
quired, to keep them from the sun and the wind : they
should therefore be covered as quickly as possible after they
have been scattered on the bed, and the earth that goes on
them should be made very fine. The covering must not be
more than an inch deep, and must be laid on very evenly,
and with the greatest possible care, so that no open-
ings may be left, for the sun or wind to find access through.
If the weather be dry, as it ought to be for the work of
sowing, water the beds gently, with a fine-rose watering-
pot, the second day after sowing ; but not by any means
while the earth is fresh at top; for if earth be freshly
moved when you water, it runs together, and binds over
the top, where it forms a shell, which is difficult for the
heads of the plants to penetrate. Last spring, I had several
beds of various seeds which failed, but 1 wished to wait,
as late as I possibly could, to give the seeds a chance to
come up. In the middle of June, or thereabouts, seeing that
the seeds would not come up in these beds, and not liking to
let them remain all the summer without a crop, I deter-
mined, late as the season was, to sow them with Locusts,
which I did in my usual manner ; but, the weather being
dry and hot, I not only watered the beds very well, the day
after the seeds were sown, but kept them sheltered from
the sun by mats, until the seeds began to come up. I never
had so regular and so perfect beds of Locusr-plants before.
They were upon an average a foot and a half high in the
month of October, and nine-tenths of them might have
gone out into plantations at once.

38/. Such very late sowing, is not, however, to be at-

Thb Locust.

tempted, unless you be resolved to take all the precautions
which I took. If wet weather should happen to come the day
after sowing-, or even shady or moist weather, you need not
resort to the covering with mats 5 but otherwise, the late
sowing is not to be attempted without shading.

388. When a Locust tree is a foot and a half, or two feet
high, it is quite fit to go into any plantation, even amongst
other trees; for, if cut down in the month of April, the
year after planting, or even in May, it will soon over-top
other trees; but if the plants be really too small to put out
at once, they should be assorted with care, the stout ones
in one lot, and the weak ones in another ; and thus, pre-
cisely after the manner of the Ash, put into the nursery, the
roots having first been properly pruned.

389. I have, in former parts of this article, said enough
about distances in the plantation ; but I must here add, that,
when old coppices of a mixture of underwoods, want
filling up, there is nothing like the Locust. In such cop-
pices, there are frequently vacant spots, of a rod or more
square. The land in these spots produces nothing but grass
and weeds. The grass can never be eaten off by cattle
without destruction to the underwood ; so that the fencing,
the rent, and the taxes for these spots of land, are all thrown
away. Those who take care of their underwoods, dig
holes therefore in their vacant spots, and plant young trees
to produce new stems. These, however, go on very slowly
compared with the Locust. If the Locust M'erc planted
the year after they are sowed, in a hole made about six feet
over, and three or four plants in each hole ; and if they
were cut down the year after planting, they would always
overtake the old coppice, and produce hop-poles as quickly
as these would be produced by the old stems of the Ash or

The Locust.

CdRSNUT, wliich mount faster, or at least become a pole
sooner than any of the rest of our under^yoods.

390. As underwood, the Locust would not only make
poles, but stakes to last for a life-time. Michaux says, that
when as big as one's wrist, or less, they are cut down, on
the borders of the Garonne, in France, and are cleft in two,
to make vine props or stakes, and that in that capacity they
serve, slender as they are, for twenty years. Nine times
out of ten, our dead hedges, whether made of bushes or of
rods, tumble down at the end of two years, owing princi-
pally to the perishable quality of the stakes, which rot from
the top of the ground downwards, in a very short time. A
hedge made with Locust stakes would stand till the rods and
the bushes were absolutely rotten ; and these being not ex-
posed to the working of the wet and the ground upon them,
would last much longer than they now do. At any rate,
the stakes would still remain good, and these are the most
expensive part of the things composing a dead hedge.

391. I have before mentioned the great utility of the
Locust in the making of pins in the putting rafters together,
or in the fastening of rails into posts. However small, if
big enough for a pin, the youngness of the wood is of no
consequence; for the young is nearly as durable as the old.
Teeth for the heads of wooden rakes; stuff to split into
little pales for making hurdle gates for sheep ; stuff for
espeliers for gardens : all these would come out of the cut-
ting down of a Locust coppice. No part of it, except the
mere brush, would fail to answer some valuable purpose ;
and even the brush, though it be green, burns better than
the brush of any other wood that I know any thing of, the
Hickory only excepted.

Locust (Honey).

392. I then bring to a close this very long article, but, I
trust, not longer than it is interesting, by repeating my ear-
nest exhortation to all those who plant trees, to examine
well all that I have said upon the subject; and if they do
so examine, I am sure that the result will be, that this fine
and most valuable tree will become common throughout the
whole kingdom.

Z.OCVST (HON£Y).

In Latin, Gleditsia Triacanthos ; in French, Fcvier.

393. The botanical characters are : — It has male and hermaphrodite flowers
in the same katkin, and female flowers in different plants. The male kat-
kins are long, compact, and cylindrical, and have each a three-leaved small
empalement; they have three roundish petals, which spread open in the form
of a cup ; they have a turbinated nectarium, the mouth of which, afterwards,
grows to the parts of fructification ; they have six slender stamina, which are
longer than the petals, terminated by oblong compressed summits. The
hermaphrodite flowers in the same katkin are situated at the end ; these
have empalements, petals and stamina like the male; and have a germen,
style and seeds like the female, which are situated in difterent trees, and are
disposed in a loose katkin ; these have a five-leaved empalement, and five
oblong petals, with two short thread-like nectariums, and a broad germen
longer than the petals, supporting a short reflexed style, crowned by a thick
stigma. The germen afterwards becomes a large flat pod, with several
transverse partitions, having a pulp in each division, surrounding one hard
roundish seed.

394. This is sometimes called the Sweet Locust; but
Honey Locust is its general name in America. This tree
seldom attains a height exceeding fifty feet. It is a very
beautiful tree, having the leaf very much resembling that
of the sensitive plant, and keeping fresh and perfectly green
all the summer. The French, when they took possession of

Locust (Honey),

Canada and the Mississippi, gave it the vulgar name of
Fev'iei', because they found it bearing its seed in a pod a
good deal resembling a very long and narrow-podded bean,
that kind of bean, which, in French, is called Fh)e, or
Fh)e cle mamis. The tree seldom gets to be more than a
foot and a half through at the butt. Michaux says, that
the timber is not valuable, and that the tree, besides its
value in the ornamental way, is principally valuable for the
forming of hedges; and this is, in reality, its great use.
The plant comes up quickly, grows fast, has numerous
branches, and those very fine ; full as tine as those of the
Hawthorn ; and these branches are armed with thorns,
which, as Michaux says, render the hedge perfectly impe-
netrable. Each thorn is nearly two inches long, stout at
the bottom where it starts from the branch, and regularly
diminishing in size till it comes to the point, which is as
sharp as that of any needle that ever was made, and a
great deal more difficult to break, or snap off. As if this
single dagger were not enough, there come out at about
half an inch from the bottom of the thorn, two smaller
thorns, each about a third of an inch long, but one a little
longer than the other. These two side thorns point in an
angular line from the side of the main thorn ; or, to speak
more properly, the point of an acute triangle is formed by
each of the little thorns, and one side of the main thorn.
So that here is a dreadful weapon : here are three of the
sharpest things ever seen in the world, pointing atevery crea-
ture that approaches the hedge.

395. I will now speak about the mode of raising the
trees; and then about that of putting them into hedges.
The seed, which comes in a pod above described, is a great
deal larger than the seed of the Locust : it is, I should
think, more than three times as large. It is precisely as

Locust (Honey).

hard ; which is pretty nearly as hard as a stone. It must
be had from America, for I have not the smallest idea of
its ripening in England : but it may be had at a reasonable
rate, and a comparatively small quantity will suffice for the
making of a very considerable hedge.

396. The SEED is to be prepared for sowing by soaking,
in precisely the same manner as is directed in the case of
the Locust. You must pay the same attention to prevent
the seed from bursting from over heat, and take all the
precautions about watering, shading, and every thing
else, just as pointed out in the case of the Locust, in para-
graph 384. When the young plants come up, they are
to be treated in just the same manner as is directed in the
case of the Locust. If sown in good ground, and kept
very clean, and managed properly throughout the summer,
they would be eight inches high in the fall of the year.
They need not be put into a nursery if your ground be
ready for planting them to form a hedge. They are ready
to go out at once, and therefore it would be useless to put
them into a nursery.

397. As to the manner of planting the hedge, in the
first place the ground should be well trenched, and other-
wise prepared. The young trees should then be planted
in two rows, one row being about fifteen or eighteen inches
from the other. The plants should be about fifteen or
eighteen inches apart in the row, and the plants in one
row standing opposite the middle of the intervals of the
other row.

398. This work of planting may be done either in
the fall or ia the spring. The ground ought to be
kept quite clear from grass and weeds the first year

Locust (Honey).

after planting. If all be done well, the trees, without
being cut down, which they ought not to be till they
have stood a year, will make good shoots, and will
particularly increase in size of stem. The next spring ;
that is to say, after they have stood a year, you cut
them down close to the ground. Each will then send up
three or four stout shoots. When these have grown through
the summer, take out any little weak shoots close to the
stem, and cut down the stout ones to within three or four
inches of the ground. Out of these stems will now come
such quantities of shoots, that the fence will be complete
in a very short time, and only want trimming, clipping
and the like, according to your fancy. The whole of the
space, between the two rows, will be filled up by side
shoots; and the hedge will be quite impassable by any
animal bigger, at any rate, than a rat or a cat. It would
remain quite undisturbed ; for nobody and nothing, made
of flesh and blood, would attempt to assail it; and, besides
all the rest, the foliage is so very fine, that even as an orna-
ment, it would be desirable to have it in a hedge. Oiu*
hawthorns are very beautiful ; in loose hedges they have
bloom as well as leaf; but we have to set against this the
early fading of their leaves, their great liability to be at-
tacked and devoured by caterpillars, and all the ugliness,
and indeed injury, arising from that circumstance. Now,
the leaf of the Honey Locust is attacked by no insect, and
its green is as fresh in August as it is in May. As a plant
to form a hedge, this surpasses all others, and for that use
I strongly recommend it, and hope to see it become of very
general use.

MAPIifi.

In Latin, Acer; in French, Urable.

399. The botanical characters are : — The impalementof thejflower is raono-
pelatous, coloured and cut into five sharp segments at the brim, and is per*
manent. The corolla is compoed of five oval petals which spread open and
are larger than the empalement. It has eight short and awl-shaped stamina,
crowned by simple summits. The germen is compressed and immersed in
the large perforated receptacle. The style is slender; it having two acu-
minated stigma, which are reflexed. The capsules are two, joined at their
base ; they are roundish, each being terminated by a large wing, inclosing
one roundish seed in each.

400. There are many varieties of the Maple ; and some
of them are very beautiful trees. Our Sycamore is a Maple,
and is called by the French the Grand Erable, or Great
Maple. We have a Maple in our woods 3 it is a very tena-
cious inhabitant of coppices, hedge-rows and hedges; a
very hardy thing, makes very good fuel, in fagots ; but it
makes no poles, no hoops, no rods, no hurdles ; and it
scarcely ever becomes a tree as big as one's thigh. It is
mere brashwood ; and of no more use as a tree, than the
poppies, or wild parsnip, or wild carrot, are as cattle-food.
Our Maple is a weed of the woods, and we burn it, because
we know not what else to do with it.

401. The American Maples are in great and beautiful
variety; and our own Sycamore is a very fine and stately
tree, grows to a great size, is wonderfully hardy, and loaded
with an uncommon portion of leaf. There is no tree, I
believe, that has so great a weight of leaf in proportion to
its height and size as the Sycamore. It will, too, grow
in any soil, even the shallowest and the worst. It is fre-

Maple.

quently seen on the bleakest hills throughout the high parts
of Hampshire and Wiltshire, where it appears to have been
left quite alone by the destruction of all other trees
around it.

402. The timber of our Sycamore is white and soft, and
not valuable by any means ; this is not the case with the
American Maples, which produce some of the finest wood
in the world. However, the manner of raising the plants
is the same in all cases. No man ever dreamed of raising
English Maple ; but our Sycamore is constantly raised in
great numbers, and it is hardly to be believed, that any
nurseryman ever raised them, except from seed. I will
first give an account of raising of Maples from seed, and of
managing them until the time of planting out; and then,
when I come to speak of the several sorts of American
Maple, I will give my opinion respecting the forming of
plantations with them. They are most beautiful trees,
varying very much as to their leaf and their form, and they
produce not only the sugar, of which so much has been
said, but some of the most beautiful wood, for various pur-
poses, that ever was seen in the world.

403. The SEED of the Maple resembles somewhat the
seed of the Ash. That of our Sycamore comes in pairs, each
seed having a broad wing, and a pair of the seeds the boys
call spectacles, which they are not much unlike, and which,
pressed upon the nose, will hang on there, like an old-
fashioned pair of grandmother's spectacles. When the
seeds are ripe, they should be gathered, made perfectly dry
in the sun ; and sown in beds in the month of November,
in the same manner as directed for the ^sh : all the rules
there laid down are to be followed with the greatest exact-
ness in this case.

Maple.

404. There are several of the Maplkp, tlie seed of which
do not come up the first year; and they will not come up
the first year, do what you will to them. The safe way,
therefore, is, as some do, and some do not, come up the first
year, always to sow in the month of November, in the
manner above directed. If they come up the first year, it
is well; if they do not, they will be apt to come up veiy
early the second year; and if a sharp frost come just after
their coming up, it will assuredly cut them off; so that you
must watch them well throughout the months of February
and March, and if you see frosts approaching, you must
cover the beds to protect the plants.

405. When the plants are up, they must be weeded with
the greatest possible care ; and kept well weeded, and the
earth stirred amongst them a little, during the whole sum-
mer. In the month of October, they will, if they have
been well taken care of, be more than a foot high; and,
then, they are to go into a nursery in the same manner as
directed for the Ash. They have very good and bushy roots ;
they move extremely well, and grow very fast. They
should be sorted in the manner directed for the Ash; in
order that the plants of the same height and size may
stand together; and may be ready to be taken out to go
into avenues or plantations, M'ithoutany more sorting. The
small ones may stand in the nursery a couple of years ; but
the large ones should stand there but one year; for the
younger they are when they go out, the greater their pro-
gress, the straighter their form, the larger and loftier they
become, and the more durable their lives.

406. If put into plantations, the distances ought to be
rows four feet apart, plants four feet apart in the ro\y, those
of one row to stand opposite the middle of the intervals in

Maple.

the other row. The Maple would not be of much value as
poles ; but young trees of this sort would be of more value
than the common Fir, at any rate ; and, in order to have a
wood of Maples, the thinning out at different times must
be carried on precisely in the same manner as directed for
the Beech : to which directions the reader will be pleased
to refer. As to the felling of the Maple, like other deci-
duous trees, the bark of which is of no value, it ought to be
done while the leaf is off. Nothing good comes up from the
stem of the Maple, and therefore it ought to be grubbed
up roots and all, that the ground may be employed with
something else.

407. The Ameiican Maples are worthy of particular at-
tention. The wood of most of them, as I have said before,
is singularly valuable. There are seven of them. First,
the White Maple {Acer Eriocarpum) ; second, the Red
Flowering Maple {Acer Riibrum) ; third, the Sugar Maple
{Acer Saccharinum) ; fourth, the Black Sugar Maple {Acer
Nigrum) ; fifth, the Moosb Wood {Acer Striatum) ; sixth.
Box Elder {Acer Negundo) ; seventh. Mountain Maplb
{Acer Montaniim). The first of these is whitish on the
under side of the leaf: it does not attain to a very great
size, and the wood of it appears, from Michaux, not to be
very valuable ; but it is a very beautiful tree, and the wood
is sometimes used for the inlaying of furniture. The
second, or Red Flowering Maple, is a tree which rises to
the heighth of seventy feet j it grows best in very moist
ground -, and in New Jersey and Pennsylvania there are ex-
tensive marshes, called Maple Swamps, entirely covered
with this tree.

408. The wood is made use of for many purposes, espe-
cially ornamental furniture, it is this tree which produces

Maple,

what is called the " Curled Maple," famous for its beauty
throughout the United States. I have a chest of this wood,
the boards of which are about two feet, or rather more,
broad. Each board, if the chest were taken to pieces, is fit
for the making of a very beautiful table. Michaux says,
that, before mahogany became generally fashionable iu
the United States, the finest furniture was made of Rkd
Flowering Mapi.e, and that bedsteads are still made of it,
" which in richness and lustre exceed the finest mahogany.
" At Boston, some cabinet-makers saw them into plates
" for inlaying mahogany. But the most constant use of
"the Curl Maple is, the forming of stocks for fowling-
" pieces and rifles, which, to elegance and lightness, unite
*' a strength resulting from the accidental direction of the
" fibre." I have received, this year, some gun-stocks of
this wood, and also some Brooim Corn Brooms, the handles
of which are of this wood. A broom and a gun-stock may
be seen at my shop at Fleet-street, and, after seeing which,
the reader will want no further inducement to endeavour
to rear some of these trees ; but it must be again observed
that the tree does not attain to any considerable size, except
in land approaching to a swamp or marsh.

409. The third sort, or Sugar Maple, is sometimes called
a Rock Maple, or Hard Maple. It is a native of the colder
parts of North America, and is nowhere more abundant
than in Canada, New Brunswick, and in that miserable
country Nova Scotia, or New Scotland. It rises to the
height of from fifty to eighty feet, but does not attain a
very great size of trunk. The wood of this tree is used by
wheelwrights for axle-trees and spokes, and for various
other purposes of great and general utility. Besides this,
it produces most beautiful wood for cabinet use ; which
wood has been, and is, called by cabinet-makers, the

Q

Maple.

Bird's-eye Maple. It is most highly vahied for inlaying
mahogany, for making bedsteads, portable writing-desks i.
and is indeed looked upon, I believe, as wood exceeding all
others in beauty. But, the great use of this tree might be
the making of sugar. I remember seeing several trees in
Nova Scotia which were under the operation of sugar-
making. This work is begun in the month of March, long
before the snow quits the ground in Nova Scotia. Little
troughs are placed against the tree, which have perforations
made in them eighteen or twenty inches from the ground,
the perforations being made in an obliquely ascending
direction. Care should be taken that the augers do not
enter more than half an inch within the wood. Tubes are
put into the holes, to conduct the sap down into the troughs.
The sap is every day collected, and temporarily poured into
casks, from which it is drawn out to fill the boilers. The
evaporation is kept up by a brisk fire, and the heat is
maintained until the liquid be reduced to a syrup, after
which it is left to cool (having been carefully skimmed
during the boiling), and then strained through some thick
woollen stuff, to separate the remaining impurities. Maple
sugar, manufactured in this way, " is (says Michaux) lighter
" coloured, and in proportion to the care with which it is
*' made, and the judgment with which the evaporation is
" conducted. It is superior in quality to the brown West
" India sugar, generally used in the United States : its
" taste is as pleasant, and it is as good for culinary pur-
" poses.. When refined, it equals in beauty the finest sugar
" used in Europe ; but, from prejudice, it is made use of
" only by the people where it is made. Wild and domestic
" animals are inordinately fond of the Maple juice. 1 feel
" authorised in recommending this tree for propagation in
" all the northern countries of Europe." Now, as these
facts are incontestible; as sugar is become assort of neces-

Maple.

sary of life ; as we never can have cane sugar without the
help of slaves; seeing that nobofly, Avithout dire compul-
sion, will work in the producing of it ; what a noble open?^
ing is here for the indefatigable exercise of the humanity
of Mr. Buxton and his associates ! It is now about fifty
years, I believe, since Massa Wilberforce commenced his
eulogised labours in favour of the blacks. If he had then
caused a hundred quarters of Sugar Maple Seed to be
brought from Nova Scotia, which he might have done at
a thousandth part of the expense that silly people were put
to in purchasing the Negro tracts in the course of one
year j and if he had caused those seeds to be sown,
and all the humane people had joined together in causing
the trees to be planted and cultivated, there would have
been more sugar raised in England at this time than would
have been necessary for twice its consumption. But, is it
too late now ? It never can be too late to do good; and
here is good iniequivocal. The tree would first give sugar,
and, when cut down, make beautiful tables to use the sugar
upon ; beautiful chairs to sit upon while sipping the sugar ;
and besides this, Michaux tells us that " the ashes of the
" Sugar Maple are rich in the alkaline principle," and that
" it may be confidently asserted that they furnish four-fifths
" of the Potash exported to Europe from Boston and New
" York." Nor do the virtues of this tree end even here ;
for Michaux siiys, that the Charcoal of this wood is pre-
ferred to every other, it being heavier, and of course
stronger, and it must therefore be the best for the manu-
facture of that article, in the making of which our old
despised Dog Wood has become so highly esteemed, which
article is so notoriously efficacious in the thinning of a
" surplus population" an object which now appears to be so
near to the hearts of his Majesty's faithful Commons.

q2

Maple.

410. The fourth, or Black Sugar Maple, differs very
little from the Common Sugar Maple ; but, as a tree, it
has a more ample foliage than the other, and is very
proper for the forming of avenues and adorning parks
and gardens.

411. The fifth sort is called the Moose Wood ; in some
parts of America it is called the Striped Maple, which is
descriptive of the bark of the tree ; but it was called
Moose Wood by the first settlers, because, the Moose (an
enormous Deer) was observed to subsist during the winter
and the spring upon the young twigs of this tree. It is a
tree that grows extremely fast, and is very beautiful
as a tree. The wood is white, and does not appear
to be very valuable. Its principal use in its native country
is furnishing the farmers, at the close of the winter, with
the means of sustaining their cattle. It is amongst the
very earliest trees in America, whose vegetation announces
the approach of spring. As soon as the buds begin to
swell, the horses and cattle are turned into the woods to
browse the young shoots j and, poor as this resource may
appear, it is a very great one, since the twigs are full of
saccharine matter. In England this tree can hardly be
planted except for ornament, but it is a very fast grower, .
and very ornamental.

412. The sixth sort, or Box Elder, or Ash-leaved Ma^
PLE, does not mount to a great height ; Michaux does not
appear to attach any A^ery great importance to it, but regards
it merely as an ornamental tree. It grows very fast, and is
very pretty. This is not saying much in its favour, and I
cannot very well see why Michaux recommends it to be
planted in coppices, to be cut every three or four years.

Maple.

when, he says, " It would afford a profitable product in its
"sprouts " The translator of Michaux was a son of an
American senator, and I have not Michaux in French, at
hand. Mr. James Hillhouse (the translator), who dedicates
the translation to his father, whom I had personally the
honour to know, as the most long-winded and pointless
speech- maker that I ever happened to hear of, save and
except our own Mr. Brougham. This Mr. James H ill-
house, the translator, little imagined that he would make
the mouths of our Cockneys water, when he was talking
of wliole coppices of ^'sprouts," which, to a certainty,
they would interpret into those delightful things, which,
under the names given to the shoots that come from the
stumps of plants of the Bressica kind, and which are
always at hand in every season of the year, cause such
abundant employment and custom to the apothecaries and
druggists and the vinegar and pepper merchants of every
part of this wonderfully populous kingdom.

413. The seventh and last sort, is the Mountain Maple,
which I have seen a great many times in America, but
never saw it of a height above eight or ten feet. It ap-
pears to have no pro|)erties that render it valuable ; but it
is a very pretty shrub, and I could not refrain from men-
tioning it on this occasion, in order to include all the Ame-
rican Maples.

THIS MOUSTTAZK' ASK.

In Latin, Sorbus ; in French, Sorbies.

414. The botanical characters are : — The flower has a spreading concave
permanent empalement of one leaf, indented in five parts ; it has five
roundish concave petals, which are in the empalement, and about twenty
awl-shaped stamina, which are also inserted in the empalement, terminated
by roundish summits. The germen is situated under the flower, supporting
three slender styles crowned by erect-headed stigmas ; it afterwards become*
a soft umbilicated fruit, enclosing three or four oblong cartilaginous seeds.

415. This is neither timber-tree nor underwood ; and I
mention it in this book only because it is found here and
there in almost all our coppices. I know of no utility
that belongs to it, and cannot guess at the reason for calling
it an xAsH, which it resembles in no respect whatever. It
is planted, as an ornamental shrub, merely on account of
its large bunches of red berries, which it bears in great
profusion, and which hang on till a late season of the year,
unless the birds be very much pressed for food, and then
the berries disappear very quickly.

416. This tree throws out a great number of suckers, and
from these it is generally propagated. The suckers are
dug up when small, put into a nursery for a year or two,
and then planted out where they are to stand. But, a
great part of the merit of this shrub, consists in its being
somewhat lofty ; and to have it lofty, and with a straight
trunk, it ought to be raised from seed. The seed, like that
of the Hawthorn, has a pulp on the outside, a hard shell
next to the pulp, and within the shell is the kernel.

The Oak.

417. The seed ought to be gathered when ripe, atid then
managed and sown in the same manner as directed for the
seed of the Hawthorn. Sometimes, however, the seed of
the Mountain Ash will come up the first year ; and, there-
fore, as the space required for the sowing of this seed will
necessarily be small, it may be as well to sow it, very nearly,
as soon as it is gathered. If the plants come up the first
year, or only a part of them, it will be sufficient ; for a
great number of such plants never can be wanted.

418. When the plants come up, they must be carefully
weeded and kept clean throughout the summer. In the
fall they will be nearly a foot high, and then they ought to
go into a nursery for two or three years. Not more than
three ; and then, when planted out, it will not be necessary
to cut them down the year after planting, for they have
very good roots to remove ; they strike off quickly ; and if
planted in the month of November or in March, the roots
will supply the plants with sap, without any cutting down.
If you wish the tree to be lofty, you must prune off the side-
shoots, as the plant advances in height, in the manner
directed in paragraphs 127 and 149. When it has got the
height of clear trunk that you wish it to have, you leave off
pruning, and the tree then presents you with a spreading
and ornamental head.

TKS OAK.

In Latin, Quercns ; in French, Chene.

419. The botanical characters are: — It has male and female flowers on
the same tree ; the male flowers are disposed in a loose katkin ; these have
an empalement of one leaf, divided into four or five segments ; they have
110 petals, but many short stamina, terminated by large twin summits. The
female flowers, which sit close to the buds, have a hemispherical thick
empalement of one leaf, which is rough and entire, almost hiding the flower,

The Oak.

which has no petal, but a small oval germen supporting a single five-pointed
style, crowned by single permanent stigmas. The germen afterwards
becomes an oval nut, or acorn, with a thick cover, having one cell, the base
of which is fixed into the empalement or cup.

420. The family of Oaks is numerous indeed. Perhaps
there are ten or a dozen different varieties amongst the
native Oaks of England, eacii somewhat distinguished from
all the rest, whether by the shape of the leaf, the size of
the leaf, the colour of the leaf; by the size, colour, or
shape of the acorn. If you stand upon a hill, and look
down upon a pretty large Oak wood, which you do almost
anywhere in the Wealds of Surrey, Sussex, or Kent, at any
season of the year, from the time that the bud begins to
open until the leaves be completely oif, you will perceive
that there is a very great variety of Oaks. You will see
one sort nearly in full leaf, >vhen the buds of other sorts
are only beginning to burst. In the autumn you will see
some of the trees retaining their perfect green, while others
are wholly without a leaf. In the middle of summer some
trees are of a dark green, others of a pale green ; so that,
in all probability, if the thing could be exactly ascertained,
there is as great a variety of Oaks in England as there is
in America ; but, at any rate, the manner of propagating,
planting, training up, and applying all deciduous Oaks, are
one and the same ; so that, in giving directions for these
works, with regard to the common English Oak, I shall be
giving directions for the propagation and management of
all Oaks, except the American Live Oak ; which is an Ever-
green, or rather one of the Evergreen Oaks, and which will
demand a different treatment.

421. As to the outward appearances of the Oak tree, its
j'Uieial height and size, the uses of its bark as well as of its
timber; these are all as well known to us, as are the out-
ward appearances, the size and the uses of the grain of

The Oak.

which our bread is made ; but how to take an acorn, and
go to work with it in that way which is best calculated for
the producing of the timber and the bark, is not so well and
so generally known : it is my business, therefore, to com-
municate to my readers the knowledge which I possess on
the subject, reserving an account of the different sorts of
Oaks, and of their different qualities, to follow the direc-
tions which are applicable to all.

422. The Oak is raised from seed, and from seed only;
and that well-known seed is the acorn. Acorns are to be
picked up under the Oak trees in the month of November;
but you must take special care that the pigs have not been
under the trees before you ; for if they have, and if the
quantity be not much greater than they can devour, they
will, as in the case of the Beech nuts, leave you not a
single acorn that will grow. The best way is to try them
in the manner directed in the case of the Beech, to which
the reader will now please to refer.

423. Acorns might be sown as soon as picked up, were it
not for the mice ; but, except in very well guarded situa-
tions, they would, if sown in the fall, be nearly all devoured
before the spring ; and even if sown in the spring, in an
open field, or any unguarded spot ; any spot where the mice
would find near and convenient shelter, as in a bottom of
a hedge, or in rough grass, they would generally leave but
few of the acorns untouched. If, therefore, you have a
mind to succeed in the raising of Oak plants, you should
make your beds in a piece of ground, which has no such
shelter near it.

424. The spot having been chosen judiciously, the next
thing is to prepare the ground well, and then to lay it out

THifr Oak.

into beds, in the manner directed for tlie Ash in paragraplis
109 and 110. The beds being prepared, you begin the
sowing ; but I must first speak of the manner in which the
acorns are to be preserved until the time of sowing. When
you have picked them up, and have ascertained that they
are good and sound, you first make them perfectly dry in
the sun. When that is done, mix them with very dry sand,
tlu-ee bushels of sand to one bushel of acorns; put them
into barrels or boxes, or into something which Avill keep
them pretty much from the air, and, at the same time, quite
dry, and there let them remain until the middle of Mai'ch,
which is the proper time for sowing.

425. Returning now to the act of sowing, you take the
sand, acorns, and all together, scatter them over the beds in
such manner, that they lie at about two inches apart. Then
pat them down into the ground with the back of the spade,
and cover them with earth taken out of the alleys, so that
the acorns have about an inch and a half of depth of earth
lying upon them. The earth should be broken very fine,
because, if it be in lumps or clods, the shoot from the
acorn, on which a clod lies, rans along horizontally under
the clod, finds its way up, M'hen it gets to the outside of the
clod, and continuing to grow in this shape, will give you
a plant with a crooked root, which will never become
straight, and which you will find very injurious.

426. The plants will come up in the month of May, when
they must be kept clear from weeds. The ground ought to
be stirred between them two or three times in the summer,
when the weather is dry, and especially after a heavy rain^
This management will cause them to be two inches higher
in the month of October, than they would be if suffered to
remain without any stirring of the ground. In the month

Thh Oak.

of November they should be put into a nursery, in rows at
eighteen inches apart, and at about eight inches apart in
the row, the work being done in the same manner as
directed for the Ash, in paragraph 120, 121, and 122. But
very great care must be taken, with regard to the roots.
The Oak sends down a tap-root, like the Hickory, but not
so long. This tap-root has a few feeble fibres hanging to
the sides of it. It is next to impossible to put this root at
full length, straight down into the ground ; and if you
were to do it, it would be of no use, for the fine point of
the root would be sure to die. You must, therefore, cut
off this tap-root with a sloping cut by a sharp knife, so as
so make the root six inches in length, from the point, Avhere,
before its removal, it touched the surface of the ground. A
new tap-root will come, in somewhat the same way that a
new shoot will come from the cutting down of a young tree ;
but side-shoots will also come out of the root which you
will put into the ground ; and these will make the tree
more fit for removal into plantations.

427. In this nursery the trees ought to stand for two
years, or perhaps for three ; because the Oak requires more
time than trees in general to regain its roots. You will, as
in the case of the Ash and all other trees, sort or size the
plants before you put them into the nursery; and the
largest size may be fit for plantations a year sooner, or per-
haps two years sooner, than those of the smallest size.

428. While standing in the nursery, the side-shoots should
be pruned off, in such manner as to keep the plants from
getting too large a head ; for that large head prevents the
stem from becoming stout; and it is stoutness in the stem
that is wanted. As to the shape which the young trees take,
that is not of much consequence 3 for, after being planted

The Oak.

out into plantations, they ought to be cut down to the
ground, as will be seen by-and-by.

429. The next operation is to remove the trees to the
spot where they are destined finally to stand ; and here we
have to speak of the soil proper for Oaks. Tiiere are some
of the Amkrican Oaks that seem to prefer a soil with a
dry, gravelly, sandy, or stony bottom; but our English
Oaks delight in the sourest of clay, yellow clay, blue clay,
or any clay that is constantly M^et and sour. The young
plants, however, want anothor sort of soil to strike into at
first; and their roots stand in need of that fine earth, which
is not to be obtained amongst clays. Even when they are
put out into plantations, there should be some fine broken
mould for them to strike off into. The ground, though
a clay, should be trenched, after the manner described in
paragraphs 18, 19, 20, and 21 ; particularly as described in
paragraph 21, which gives directions for the deep moving of
the ground, but still for the keeping of the top soil at top.

430. The ground being ready for planting, the trees
should be taken up out of the nursery with the greatest
care, the roots pruned, after the manner described in para-
gra[)hs 72 and 73, and the plants put in, in the manner de-
scribed in paragraph 75- Before they be planted they may
be cut off, not so closely as is represented in figure 2, oppo-
site paragraph 74; but the head ought to be shortened,
and the side-shoots shortened also, in order to prevent the
young trees from being loosened in the ground by the wind,
before they have taken root.

431. In this state, the ground being kept clear from
weeds, the Oak should stand two years before it be cut
down; because, as was observed before, it is longer in

The Oak.

taking good firm root, than any other deciduous tree, the
Hickory excepted. At tlie end of two years, the trees will
be but scrubby looking things, but they will be fast in the
ground, of which their roots will have got good hold, and
their stems will have increased in stoutness. Now, there-
fore, the ground having been kept perfectly clear of weeds,
they ought to be cut down, with a sharp knife, nearly close
to the ground.

432. This will cause new shoots to come up from them,
which will go up straight ; and you must be careful to take
otf, from each stem, all the shoots but one, leaving that one,
which of course will be the strongest, to go up and become
the trunk of the tree. The next year, this shoot will send
out side-shoots, which must not be taken off until they have
had a year's growth. Then the lower ones should be taken
oftj by means of a sharp knife and a close cut ; and thus,
every year, as the top of the tree rises higher and higher,
the lowest of the side-shoots should be taken off, until you
get your stem or trunk clear and straight to the length that
you desire to have it. It is not always desirable to have a
long trunk, and a small head in proportion, of course. The
bark forms a great part of the value of the Oak ; and it fre-
quently happens, that an ugly-looking tree, with a great
number of limbs, is more valuable than a handsome, and
even a larger tree with few limbs. Besides, a straight
trunk furnishes none of those knees, which are so valuable
in the making of ships, and frequently in the making of
houses. In hedge-rows, therefore, where there is plenty of
room, there seems to be no good reason for endeavouring
to obtain a trunk of great length ; and, of course, the
pruning there ought to be accordingly; but if trees be to
stand in a wood, they ought to be pruned so as to give room
for their growing to a considerable height.

The Oak.

433. Now, as to the distances, at which Oaks ought to be
planted, much must depend on the object which the planter
has in view. Generally speaking-, the trees cannot come to
any thing worthy of the name of timber, unless they stand at
froni twenty to thirty feet distance from each other ; for, at this
distance their heads will all meet at the end of about thirty
years. But, what is to be done with the rest of the ground
in the mean while ? for, it would be very unprofitable work
to employ an acre of ground for thirty years in the raising
of about eighty trees, which would not probably be worth
more than three or four pounds a-piece. To plant Oaks
after the manner directed for Ash and some other trees,
and to keep thinning out until you got to the eighty to an
acre, would, it appears to me, be nearly as unprofitable a
thing as could be done ; for, though from the stools of the
trees cut down, there would ccme a coppice, an Oak
coppice is absolutely good for nothing but fuel. It makes
neither hoops nor hurdles; and even the young trees that
would be taken out, when they attain the height proper for
poles, would be good for nothing in that capacity. The
young trees, when taken out at a larger size, would be
good for little, seeing that they are almost all sap, which
has no strength and which is rotten a year or two after it is
cut down. Their chief value would be in the bark of the
trunks, and this would not amount to much.

434. Therefore, if I had to make a plantation of Oaks, I
would put them in rows, twenty-five feet apart, and twenty-
five feet apart in the row, placing the plants of one row oppo-
site the middle of the intervals of the other row. Then I would
have four rows of Hazel, at five feet apart, and at five feet
apart in the row, between every two rows of Oaks, and
four Hazel plants between every two Oaks in the row
itself. The Haz£l would rather, perhaps, outgrow the

The Oak.

Oaks; but it would shelter them at the same time;
and where the Hazel interfered too mucli with the Oaks,
it might be cut away with the hook. By the time that
the Hazel coppices were fit to cut for the first time, the
Oaks would have obtained a considerable height j perhaps
eight or ten feet. This would give them the mastership
of the HAZEL ; and, after the second cutting of the
Hazel, there would begin to be an Oak wood, with a
Hazel coppice beneath ; and in the mean while the cop-
pice would have produced very nearly as much as it would
have produced, if there had been no Oaks growing on it.
By the time that four cuttings of the Hazel would have
taken place, the coppice would be completely subdued by
the Oaks. It would produce no more hoops or hurdles j
but then the Oaks would be ready to afford a profit.

435. I have heard, of the planting of Scotch Firs as nurses
to the Oaks, and I saw an instance of this upon a small
scale in a plantation in the New Forest ; but, the Firs grow
a great deal too fast for the Oaks ; and though they shelter
them, they draw them up into too slender a size at the
same time. It is a sort of shelter, which is too much for
the Oaks; and, while the Firs do not produce a crop equal
in value to the tenth part of a Hazel coppice, they cannot,
when once cut down, be renewed. They draw away the
goodness of the ground, as long as they exist, more than
the Hazel ; and in short, in every point of view, they are,
as nurses to Oaks, inferior to the other.

436. The other way of raising Oak plantations is by sow-
ing the seeds in ground previously well ploughed or digged;
or indeed trenched, which is still a great deal better.
Drills are made by a drill-plough, or by the hand, and the
acorns put along the drill and covered over ; in this case.

The Oak.

if the plants succeed, great numbers must be cut out, or
grubbed up, and the underwood can be nothing but Oak,
which, as before observed, can be good for little. I know
a plantation, or rather a wood, formed in this manner,
except that the acorns Vere sown broad cast, instead of
being sown in drills : this wood is very near to the village
of Botley, on an estate which belonged to the late Mr.
Clewer of that village. The acorns were sown, as Mr.
Clewer told me, about sixty years ago. 1 had, for years,
frequent opportunities of looking at this wood, which is
situated at the top of the hill, by the side of a lane, leading
from Diirley Mill to Curdridge Common. But, in the fall
of 1826, I rode up that lane, took particular notice of the
trees, and could not see one which I thought to be any
thing near forty feet high, and not one of the size worthy
of being called Timber, though the land there, and all
round the neighbourhood, is remarkably good for the
growing of Oak. If a regular plantation had been made on
that same land, at the time when these acorns were sowed,
I am convinced that there would now have been many trees
worth ten pounds a-piece. The truth is, that such a mode
of raising Oaks is rather slower, than suffering them to
come up as they can amidst the underwood of the cop-
pices J and, the absurd practice can have no other founda-
tion, than that of an erroneous notion that it is a saving of
expense. These Oaks of sixty years old are nothing more
than miserable saplings at this hour.

437. As to the pruning of Oak trees when they become
large, this never should be done by cutting a limb of any
considerable size off close to the tree. If so cut off, the
bark will generally, in time, cover the cut ; and you will
frequently see, in large Oak trees, a covering of this sort,
eight, nine, or twelve inches in diameter j but though you

The Oak.

get a covering of bark over the cut, you leave a piece of
dead wood beneath that bark, which, when the tree is
sawed out, discovers itself in the greatly inferior value of
the board or plank ; and, though you disguise the fact to
common eyes, you cannot disguise it to the eyes of the
timber-merchant, who is sure to make a note of the cir-
cumstance in his survey previous to the purchase of the
tree. When, therefore, you are compelled by some circum-
stance or other, to take off a live limb of any considerable
size, the best way is to cut it otf at three or four feet from
the trunk of the tree : if new shoots come out of the stump,
the trunk will receive no injury. If the stumj) die, which
is seldom the case, it will be years in dying, and in all
probability would never injure the trunk. If there be a
limb broken off by the wind, leaving a stump with a ragged
end, cut back to the quick, which may bring out new
shoots, and thus prevent injury to the trunk. If the limb
be wholly dead, you must cut it out from the bottom ; and
if it be a limb of considerable size, the sooner you cut the
tree down the better ; but, if any part of the limb be alive,
it will be that, part which is nearest to the trunk ; and
when you have cut it back to the quick, you have done all
that you can do to prevent the mortal disease reaching
the trunk of the tree.

438- With regard to the felling of Oaks, the Oak which
is cut in winter is much more valuable than that which is
cut in summer; but as Oak wood is Oak wood, and as
Oak wood and Oak bark will sell for more than the same
quantity of Oak wood alone, we scarcely Iiear of such a
thing as a winter-cut Oak. In order to have both ; in
order to have the skin as well as the body, and to have the
body sound too, some persons have barked their Oaks
standing, and cut down the trees the succeeding winter.

R

The Oak.

This was practised, sometimes, hundreds of years back;
but, if it had been of any solid utility; if it really had, in
the end, been attended with profit, the practice would have
become general ; instead of which, I never saw an instance
of it in all my life. I have seen small Oak stuff, in the
hedge-rows in Cornwall and Devonshire, thus skinned alive,
and there may be here and there a man that applies the
practice to large trees. But, at any rate, the [)ractice is very
rare, and very rare it could not be, if it were unequivocally
profitable.

439. It is impossible that any reader, after being enabled
to make the comparison, should not decide on making Locust
plantations in preference to plantations of Oak. The
LocfjST will grow in any soil except in a mere swamp ; and,
by looking back at my account of the tedious progress of
the Oak, he will perceive that the Locust tree, at the end
of three or four years from the seed, would be higher and
bigger than the Oak tree at the end of twelve or fourteen
years from the seed ; and, when to this important consi-
deration, are added the superiority in the quality of the
Locust, and its great excellence in the forming of coppices
or underwood, it is impossible for any man to resist the
conviction tendered to his mind.

440. Having now given instructions for the propagation
and management of the Oak generally; and believing that
there is no essential difference in the quality of the different
varieties of our English Oak, I next proceed to give an
account of the American Oaks, first observing, however,
that a sort of Oak very common in ornamental plantations
in England, called the Turkey Oak, is a very fast grower
an<l a very beautiful tree, but produces, as I am informed,
wood greatly inferior to that of our English Oak. The

The Oak.

American Oaks are, according to Michaux, twenty-five
in number; as follows: 1st. White Oak {Quercus Alba) ;
2d. Black Oak (Quercus Tincioi'ia) ; 3d. Red Oak (Quercus
Rubra) ; 4th, Swamp White Oak (Quercus Prinus Discolor) ;
5th. Overcup White Oak (Quei'cus Macrocarpa) ; 6th.
Chesnut White Oak (Quercus Prinus Palustris) ; 7th.
Scarlet Oak (Quercus Coccinea) ; 8th. Black Jack Oak
Quercus Ferruginea) ; 9th. Grey Oak (Quercus Ambigua) ;
10th. Mossy Cup Oak (Quercus Olivteformis) ; 11th. Post
Oak (Quercus Obtusiloba) ; 12th. Over cup Oak (Quei'cu^
Lyrata) ; 13th. Yellow Oak (Quercus Prinus Acuminata) ]
14th. SxMall Cuesnut Oak (Quercus Prhivs Cliincapin) ;
15th Bertram Oak (Quercus Heterophylla) ; 16th. Water
Oak (Quercus Aqnatica) ; l/th. Bear Oak (Querais Canis-
teri) ; 18th. Barren Scrub Oak (Quercus Catesbcei) ; 19th.
Pin Oak (Quercus Palustris). The foregoing are the decidu-
ous Oaks. The Evergreens are, 1st. The Live Oak (Quercus
Virens) ; 2d. The Cork Oak (Quercus Subea) 3 3d. The
Willow Oak (Quercus Phellos) -, 4th. Laurel Oak (Quer-
cus Imbricaria) ; 5th. Upland Willow Oak (Querc2iS Cine-
ria) ; 6th. Running Oak (Quercus Pumila).

441 . These Oaks all differ in some degree, and that degree
pretty striking. The foliage of them all is beautiful, espe-
cially after it has been taken by the frost in the fall of the
year. Some of these Oaks are represented as not growing
much higher than a man's head ; and one of them, not
above a foot and a half high, wlien it is covered with acorns
bending the branches down to the ground. But, I think
worthy of recommendation, as trees to be planted in Eng-
land, for the purpose of Timber, none but the White Oak
and the Black Oak, amongst those of a deciduous cha-
racter; and none but the Live Oak amongst those of the

R 2

The Oak.

Evergreens. A collection of the whole of the sorts planted
on one spot would be a very curious object, and singularly
pleasing to the eye ; but, in this work, it is my business to
speak of the useful only, and therefore 1 shall confine myself
to the three sorts of Oaks just mentioned.

442. The White Oak {Querciis Alba) produces some of
the most valuable timber in the world : it is as strong as
our Oak, and almost as elastic as the Hickory itself. It is
made use of in the making of almost all the implements of
husbandry, in the making of coaches, in the making of
sledges ; and, in short, in the making of every thing where
great strength and toughness is sought to be obtained in a
small bulk. As a proof of its toughness and elasticity, it
is made use of for many purposes to which we apply whale-
bone. A piece of White Oak, sawed out of a plank, and
planed down to the proper size, makes a whip-handle; and,
in America, the carters' long whips, which Ave make of
whalebone, covered with leather or tarred thread, are made
of White Oak. My correspondent in America has sent
me a dozen of coach-whip handles made of this wood, first
sawed out of a plank, and then planed or turned to the
proper dimensions ; and one of these whip-handles, together
with a Hickory \vhip-handle, may now be seen at my shop
at Fleet-street. If I were to give a description of all the
uses to which this wood is put, I should fill half a volume
with that matter alone. The tree attains the height of
seventy or eighty feet, and it frequently rises still higher.
It is, however, amongst the least curious and beautiful, in
outward appearance, of the American Oaks. The leaf is
but small, and the shape and colour not very handsome.
I have found great difficulty in bringing the acorns of this
Oak in a sound state to England. The shell of the acorn is

The Oak.

tender ; the acorn ripens early in the fall, and if warm rains
come in the month of November, which they very fre-
quently do, the acorns still clinging to the tree, actually
sprout before they are shaken down by the winds. I have
not yet succeeded in bringing over any considerable quan-
tity in really good order ; but I think that, if they were
beaten off the trees before they were quite ripe, then dried in
the sun, and packed in very dry sand, they would come to
hand perfectly safe and sound. The soil in which the White
Oak delights is precisely that in which our English Oak
flourishes best.

443. The Black Oak {Quercus Tinctoria). This Oak is
adorned with a very beautiful leaf; very large, most
curiously formed, of a fine green during the summer, then
purple for a montb, and then nearly scarlet for another
month. This Oak flourishes in the poorest of soils, or, to
make use of the words of Michaux, " where the soil is
lean, gravelly, and uneven ;" and yet it frequently attains
the height of ninety feet, with a trunk four or five feet in
diameter.

444. The wood is reddish, with empty pores; but it is,
however, very often used for purposes for which the While
Oak is used, when the latter cannot be easily obtained.
The bark of this Oak is of great value, and many tons of it
are imported into England annually from America. From
parts of the bark of this tree is obtained the Qnercifron, of
which great use is made in dying wool, silk, and paper-
liangings. According to several authors who have written
on this subject, and among others, Docxou Bancroft, to
whom, says Michaux, "we are indebted for this discovery,
" one part of Qnercitro7t yields as much colouring matter as
" eight or ten parts of woad."

Thb Oak.

445. The wood is inferior in quality to that of our Oak ;
but its great height and size, the rapidity of its growth iu
the coldest of climates and the poorest of soils, and, above
all, the value of its bark iu dying, recommend it strongly
to the notice of English planters. I should suppose that a
wood of this Oak would come to be fit to bark in England
in a very few years after the sowing of the acorns ; and
these acorns have a very thick shell, preserve well, and
come from America in excellent condition. I have had the
plants two feet high, and many of them more than that, in
the month of October, after sowing them in the spring of
the same year.

446. The Live Oak {Quercus Fir ens). Of all the Oaks,
however, this is the one of the most value. It is evergreen,
has smooth oblong leaves, of a deep green upon the upper
side, and whitish on the under side. This tree grows well
in England, and ripens its seed in England 3 there are
several trees of it in the King's gardens at Kew, and 1 have
seen acorns upon them in a very perfect state. The wood
is as durable as that of the Locust ; but it is a great deal
heavier than that or any other wood that I ever saw. It
does not afford large timber ; but is extraordinarily prolific
in those knees which are so very useful in the building of
iihips. I do not find that it ever grows in America to a
much greater height or size than it reaches here. Michaux
tells us that it flourishes best near the sea, and is proof
against all storms and blasts. He fre<piently saw it upon
the sea-beach, or half buried in the movable sands upon
the downs, where it had preserved its freshness and vigour,
though exposed during a long lapse of time to the fury of
the winter winds and to the ardour of the sunnner sun.
This tree naturally spreads its head somewhat in the/orm
of a good stout, lofty apple-tree; this circumstance causes

The Oak.

it to produce such a quantity of knees. The American
ships, when for sale, are said to be built of Live Oak and
Red Cedar. Ninety -nine times out of a hundred such
sayings are false ; but the assertion proves beyond all doubt
the great celebrity of the wood. Michaux tells us that it
is sought after with most destructive eagerness, and that
he considers its disappearance from the United States,within
fifty years, as nearly certain.

447. I trust that it Avill make its appearance in England
in proportion as it disappears in the United States ; for,
besides the utility of it, besides the great interest the
country has in its cultivation here, it is a large and beautiful
evergreen, not liable to be broken by the winds, every twig
being as tough as a bit of rope ; never flinching at the
frost and snow, and affording the completest of shelters to
gardens and houses.

448. With regard to the mode of propagating this famous
tree, it can only be done from the acorns. I raised some
from the acorns last year, but they were very few in
number. One gentleman had them all j and perhaps he has
more trees of the Live Oak than all the rest of the people
of England put together, seeing that I think he has about
two thousand. The acorns are sowed in the same manner
as directed for the sowing of the acorns of the common
Oak ; they attain the height of from five to seven inches
the first summer, and then they ought to be removed into
a nursery, in the manner directed for the Red Cedar. But
they need not stand two years in the seed-bed, like tlie
Red Cedar. They must be taken out of the seed-bed with
the greatest care ; but, as to the removing of these trees,
turn back to, and read with great attention, paragraph 215.
The Live Oak ought to stand two years in the nursery, for

The Oak.

it will not make much of a shoot the first year ; and then'
it ought to be planted out where it is to stand ; for if
planted out at a greater age, it will certainly be exposed
to the risk of not taking root until the top of the plant be
injured.

449. As to the preparation of the ground for the final
plantation, it ought to be after the best possible manner;
and the planting ought to be performed with extraordinary
care, the wind and sun being kept from the roots as com-
pletely as possible; and the planting ought to take place
early in the fall if it be convenient, or else in April, and the
roots ought to be grouted if the weather be warm.

450. The Live Oak is never to be cut down, after the
manner of deciduous trees. It must remain entire, for, if
cut down, I much question if it would throw up new shoots.
This circumstance points out the necessity of putting it
into plantations when still very small ; for, if large, the
removal would prevent the root from being able to supply
sap sufficiently for the first year. This does not so much
signify in deciduous trees, because, by cutting doAvn, you
get a new plant when the root is arrived at a state sufficient
to push it up and maintain it in vigour ; but, as you cannot
cut down this Evergreen Oak, you must be careful that it
is never deprived of its due share of sap.

451 . A plantation of Live Oaks would be a most beautiful
thing, and valuable beyond all calculation. A hiee, about
the size and form of one's leg and tliigh, when one is sitting
in a chair M'ith the heel at about a foot and a half from the
chair; I mean the leg and thigh of a good stout man,
howcA'er; such a knee would be equal in strength, and
indeed a great deal stronger, and a great deal less liable

The Oak.

to break, than a knee of the same bulk, made even of
Swedish h-on, not to think of the rubbishy stuff, half sand
and half ore, of which cast-iron things are composed. But
the Live Oak is a spreading tree, though low of stature
compared with Elms and with other Oaks : it spreads
about its head to a very considerable extent, and you do
not want it with a straight and long trunk ; you want it for
the kneeSf and for other purposes Avhere short lengths are
sufficient ; and therefore it ought to have room, and ought,
indeed, to be planted in distances of twenty-five feet, in the
same manner as I have suggested the propriety of making
a plantation with the Common Oak. And here 1 beg to
refer the reader to what I said, a little way back, upon that
subject.

452. If the coppice were to consist of Birch, instead of
Hazel, it might in this case be as well j for the Birch
would push up faster than the Hazel, and would not throw
out such a very great number of shoots from each stem. If
the plantation be for ornament as well as for use, it is likely
that the coppice would not be thought of; and then all
that would be required would be an effectual fence, and
constantly clean land. After the plants attain the height of
seven or eight feet, a pruning of the lower side-shoots might
take place, and this pruning might be continued until you
had got a clear trunk from twelve to twenty feet high : then
the head ought to be left to form itself into limbs, and those
limbs to form themselves into knees.

453. The bark of the Live Oak is never heard of in
tanning, and therefore the tree is always cut when the sap
is down. The bark seems to be, indeed, nearly as hard
as the wood itself; for you frequently see it on the edges

The Persimon.

of planks and slabs at the end of twenty years after they
come from the sau-pits. I never saw, that I know of, a
broken or dead Hmb in a Live Oak tree. The twigs are
so tougli, and the limbs have so many minor limbs coming
out of them, and they so firmly brace and support each
other, that the wind seems never to have the smallest effect
upon this tree ; to cause an extensive plantation of which
to be made in England would merit the title of Duke
ten thou5an<l times more than ten thousand battles of
Waterloo.

In Latin, Diospiros ; in French, Plagueminier.

454. The botanical characters are : — It has hermaphrodite and female
flowers on the same plant, and male flowers on separate plants ; the herm-
aphrodite flowers liave a lars^e obtuse permanent empalenient of one leaf,
which is divided into four i>arts ; the flower has one petal "which is shaped
like a pitcher, and cut at the brim into four segments, which spread open ;
it has eight short bristly stamina firmly joined to the empalement, termi-
nated by oblong summits which have no farina. In the centre is situated a
roundish germen, supporting- a single quadrified style, crowned by au obtuse
bifid stigma; the germen afterwards becomes a large globular berry, with
many cells, each including one oblong, compressed hard seed. The male
flowers have a one-leaved empalement, cut into small acute segments ; the
petal is thick and four-cornered, cut into four obtuse segments, which turn
backward; they have eight short stamina, terminated by long, acute, twin
summits, but have no germen.

455. This tree, which is found in almost all parts of the
United States, does not rise to a great height; but it some-
times reaches that of sixty feet, with a diameter of eighteen
or twenty inches ; and I am mistaken, if I have not seen it

The Persjmox.

several times much higher. and bigger. The leaves are from
four to sbc inches long, of a beautiful gieen above, and of a
whitish blue on the underside. It bears a fruit, a sort of
plum about the size of our largest cherries, and bears it in
prodigious quantities. The fruit is of a pale red, in the
fall of the year, and when the frost has nipped it, it fre-
quently is eaten.

456. The wood of this tree is very hard, strong and elastic.
MicHAux says that it is used at Baltimore, in the making
of large screws, and by tinmen for making their mallets.
It is employed to make the large wedges, which assist iron
wedges in the splitting of the trunks of trees ; for the
making of the shafts of chaises it stands before every other
sort of wood except the lance-wood of the West Indies.
So that, taking ornament and use together, this is a tree
very well M^orthy of our attention ; and as to the propaga-
tion of it, nothing can be more easy.

457. The seed is easily obtained from almost any part of
the United States. Several seeds are contained in each of
the little sort of plums above described. They are as hard
as a bit of pewter, and pliable like a little bit of pewter.
They ought to be sowed in the month of March or April,
in just tlie same manner as directed for the Ash. When
scattered on the seed-bed, which they may be very thickly,
they ought to be pressed down by the back of the spade to
settle them firmly in the ground, and then covered with
earth taken out of the alleys? which earth ought to lie on
the beds a little more than an inch deep, and ought to be
made very fine in order to suffer the plants freely to come
up, which they will do very boldly, just in the manner of
a kidney-bean, about the middle of the month of May.

The Pjbrsimon.

458. It is a very bold plant j but, the beds ought never-
theless to be kept perfectly clean from weeds. If this be
done, and if the ground be good, they will be from six to
eight inches high in the month of October. In November,
or in the succeeding month of March, they ought to go into
the nursery, in the manner described in the case of the
Ash, and at the same distances ; but, though the root is
very bushy, and has nothing of sap belonging to it, the
plants must be removed with great care, to guard against
the influence of sun or wind j because, this is a hard-wooded
plant ; and all such plants, except the Locust, as far as
I knoM', require particular care in transplanting. They
might stand two years in the nursery, unless you perceived
them to make good shoots the first year 5 for unless you
see a shoot made by the plant, you may be assured that the
root has not done much in the way of shooting.

459. When they have stood two years at most in the
nursery, they ought to go to the spot where they are finally
to stand. Most likely few persons would ever think of
Persimons except for clumps, for lofty shrubberies, or for
independent trees. If put into clumps, they might stand
at about six feet apart at first, and be thinned out when
their want of sufficient room required it. If any one, ever
should think of making a little wood of Persimons, they
might be planted in rows of ten feet apart, the plants at
ten feet apart in the row, and those in the one row
standing opposite the middle of the intervals of the other
row. There then would come a row of Hazkl or of
Birch at five feet apart between each two roAv^s of the Per-
simons, and one plant of Hazkl or of Birch between
each two Parsimons, in the Persimon rows : and thus, a
coppice would be going on, while the trees were growing

The Plane.

in height, in the same manner as has been suggested in the
case of the Oak. As the trees advance in height, their
lower side-shoots should be taken off, in such manner, as to
secure a clear stem and a straight one, if possible, of
eighteen or twenty feet long. That is long enough. The
heads of the trees would then get pretty close together ;
there would be beauty above and profit beneath ; beauty in
the foliage and profit in the trunk.

460. The proper season of cutting down the trees is, of
course ; the winter; and of the qualities and uses of the wood,
I have already spoken. I do not say that I recommend any
one to make a plantation of Persimons ; but, it might he
done upon a small scale at a very little expense ; and if one
were planting a coppice of Birch or of Hazel, it might in
fact be done at hardly any expense at all.

TSE FXiANi:.

In Latin, Platanus ; in French, Platane.

461. The botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers grow-
ing separately on the same tree. The flowers are collected in a round bell ;
they have no petals but very small empalements, which have oblong
coloured stamina, terminated by four-cornered summits. The female
flowers have scaly empalements and several small concave petals, with several
awl-shaped germen sitting upon the styles crowned by curved stigmas ; these
are collected in large balls. The germen turns afterwards to a roundish seed
sitting upon the bristly style and surrounded with downy hair.

462. This is one of the trees in knowledge with regard
to the propagation of which I pride myself; and the reader
will see that it is not without reason, Avhen he comes to that
part of this article, in which I am to speak of the experi-
ment made last summer in the raising of Planes.

The Plane.

423. Tliere are two distinct species of Planes : the
Oriental Plane and the Occidental Plane; one belongs to
Asia and the other to America. We have long had them
both in Enghmd ; sometimes very fine ; but always less
fine than they would have been, had they been raised from
the seed. The Oriental Plane is that which sheds its
bark annually or biennially. The bark peels off, by piece-
meal, and new bark comes in its stead. The Occidental
Plane does not change its bark in this manner. The trunk
of the former tree is of a grey colour; that of the latter is
rather of a greenish red. The leaves of the Occidental-
Plane are larger than those of the Oriental Plane ; and
it grows to a greater height and in a more erect manner:
both are noble trees ; and if they were raised from seed,
instead of being raised from Layers, they would be full as
large and lofty as they are in their native countries. Mil-
ler relates that he has read of an Okiental Plane " which
" was glowing at a villa of the Emperor Caligula ; the
*' trunk of which was so large, as, when hollowed, to make
'^ a room therein, to entertain ten or twelve persons at a
" repast, and for their servants to wait upon them." Miller
speaks of another of these Oriental Planes, which was of
so great a magnitude, " that Xerxes made his army
*' (which consisted of seventeen hundred thousand men)
" halt for some days to admire the beauty and tallness of
'• this tree, which he called his mistress, his minion, his
" goddess; and, when he was obliged to part with it, he
" caused a figure of it to be stamped on a gold medal,
" which he continually wore about his neck." Well would
it be for some people, for some poor oppressed and miserable
millions, if their Sovereigns delighted in mistresses, minions
and goddesses of a character so inoffensive, and so little
calculated to produce taxation and beggary. This tall and
lovely goddess never meddled, I warrant hei-, in affairs,

Thk Plane.

which ought to be left wholly to men ; never broke up
councilsj or frustrated political arrangements and plans •
never squandered away a wretched people's earnings, either
in| decorating herself or creating fortunes for her minions.
Happy subjects of Xerxes ! and success, say I, to those
Sovereigns who are fond of trees, and who prefer them to
goddesses made of corrupt flesh and blood, whether the
goddesses be fat or lean.

464. The Occidental Plane does, perhaps, surpass in
height and size that of the East. In America its common
name is the Button wood, from the form of the ball con-
taining its seed, a particular description of which I shall
give by-and-by. To hear this vulgar, pitiful name, one
would imagine that the tree must be but a pitiful tree ;
yet, it is the largest tree in the world; and as will
by-and-by be seen, its seed is very little bigger than that of
the lettuce plant. Miller speaks of an Occidemtal Plane
that had been known in America, to be thirty-six feet round;
MicHAUX speaks of one, which was measured by himself
and his travelling companion, and which they found on
the right bank of the Ohio, thirty-six miles from Marietta,
which measured, at four feet from the ground, forty-seven
feet in circumference ; and, of course, the diameter of which
was fifteen feet and eight inches. If this tree had been
hollowed out, and a round table put in the centre of it,
a greater company than that of Caligula might have
feasted in this vegetable dining-room. The elder Michaux
measured another tree, which was forty feet four inches
round at five feet from the ground ; which latter tree be-
came renowned from General Washington having mea-
sured it twenty years before. Michaux says that this tree
is seen in the mixed svoods with a trunk several feet in
diameter at the height of sixtv or sevenfv feet ; and that it

The Planb.

begins to ramify near the summits of the general mass of
trees. It is very well known, that the families of the
Squattkrs, or first settlers, frequently scoop out the trunks
of these trees; and live in them as houses for years together.
These surprisingly large tmnks are sometimes fashioned
into Canoes, and Michaux speaks of one of these, which
was made to sail on the river Wabash, that was sixty-five
feet long, and that would, of course, carry more than a
hundred persons.

465. This is quite enough as to the size the tree is capable
of attaining. The wood is used for all those purposes that
the soft woods are generally applied to. It is frequently
used, in America, in the making of bedsteads, and some-
times in the interior of the building of houses. It is used
universally as butchers' blocks, and for all similar purposes,
it being less inclined to split or chip away than blocks
made of any other kind of wood. It is also used for blocks
on board of ship; for, though it is rather too light, it
has the excellent quality of not being prone to split or
crack.

466. In England it will hardly ever be planted in woods
merely for the sake of the timber ; but for avenues, for
clumps, for independent trees, in grounds of large space, it is
one of the finest trees in the world. It is even more rich and
shady in foliage than the Oriental Plane, and does not,
like that, shed part of its leaves in the summer. It is pre-
ferable beyond all measure to Elms; even its timber is
better ; it grows beyond measure faster ; and its leaves
retain their freshness during the whole of the summer, and
it is never infested, as the Elm very frequently is, by those
caterpillars which make it an object of ugliness instead of
an object of beauty.

The Plane.

467. Having now given a description of the Planb, I
next proceed to give instructions as to tlie manner of rais-
ing it. It is curious that Miller, while he says that
he has raised Planes from the seed, seems to place no
reliance upon that method, but resorts to the Cuttmgs and
the Layers; and thus it is, that they are raised, by all our
gardeners and nurserymen; and thus it is, that we have no
Plane trees in England, but many branches of trees. We
scarcely ever see them going up with a clear straight trunk,
to any considerable distance. The trunk is in fact a great
limb of a tree, and it throws out branches after the manner
of a limb; and never goes on rising straight upwards until
it gets to a great height, and then begins to ramify. I have
seen Planes in America a great deal more than a hun-
dred feet high, straight as gun-sticks, and with heads be-
ginning to spread sixty or seventy feet from the ground.
The reason is, that these trees come from the seed; but
I am sure that the gardeners and nurserymen in England,
who might raise them so much cheaper from seed than in
any other way, do not know how to do it, or they never
would resort to the tardy and expensive mode of raising
them by cuttings or layers.

468. I imported enough of the seed of the Occidental
Plane to furnish all England with trees; I sowed some
every year, from 1822 to 1826 inclusive ; and when I ought
to have had hundreds of thousands every year, I got only a
very few hundreds of plants. Last spring, the spring of
1827, I was resolved to take particular pains about the
matter. I sold some of the seeds in my boxes of seeds ;
and, in a catalogue which accompanied the boxes, I directed
the seeds to be sown upon sifted mould, and then to be
covered with sifted mould only about an inch deep. This
I did myself, sowing many beds in this way ; and, to my

s

The Plane.

great mortification, I found that 1 had got, after all, only
about Jive or six hundred plants ! I gently moved the top of
the ground in many places, saw that the seeds had struck,
covered over the places again, making sure that, as there
was a root already come, there would also come a plant.
I waited, however, in vain; for though the leaves of the
plants actually came out of the seed under the ground, only
the very few that I have mentioned ever made their appear-
ance above ground.

469. I here request the reader to turn back to the account
of my experiments with regard to the Birch seed, which
account the reader will find in paragraphs 158, 159, 160
and 161. Accident led me to perceive, or 1 think I may
call it attentive observation, that Birch trees were to be
obtained by sowing the seeds upon the ground. Why then,
thought I, may it not be the same with regard to the seeds
of the Plane ? The form and substance of the seed seemed
to forbid the hope ; but, nevertheless. Planes must come
from the seeds dropped on the ground in America, and
I resolved to try the thing at any rate.

470. The SEED of the Plane comes in a round ball, as
nearly as possible an inch in diameter, through the centre.
The seed itself is in the form of a roundnail without a head,
tapering from the hammer end to the point; it is about
two thirds of an inch long; the point of it has a parcel of
stuff like cotton wool attached to it, and this is packed
round a little hard ball in the centre of the large ball. The
seeds are so formed that the points of all of them go into
and are attached to a part of this wool, while their big
ends, pressed close together, form the circumference of
the ball. When the ball is ripe and dry, it tumbles to
pieces, or, falling from the tree, each seed finds a wing

The Plane.

in its portion of wool, and is thus scattered abroad by the
winds.

471. The seed, as I have called it above, is, however,
only the coat of the seed. It is a little brown thing, in the
shape of such nail as 1 have described before. There is
nothing of vegetation that appears in it; but, if carefully
opened, after having been for a while steeped in warm
water, you can discover a little point of white pith; but
even then, after the soaking, not exceeding in bulk the point
of a common pin ; beyond all measure smaller than the pith
of a Lettuce seed. From this comes, from this mere atom
comes, such immense trees ! This is a more wonderful
thing than all the other wonders of the vegetable creation.

472. Now, the reader will perceive, that this atom of pith
is not of sufficient strength to force up out of the ground the
thick and tough covering which nature has put around it.
The manner of growing in seeds is, the root starts first,
and, when it has acquired sufficient strength, it forces up
the head. The root of the Plane comes out at the point
of the nail, as I have called it j but this root has not suffi-
cient strength to force up, through any thing of a covering
of ground, so comparatively large and long a thing as the
sliank and butt of the nail. When covered with ground,
therefore, the root starts, the leaves come out under the
ground, but without the means of being forced up out of
the ground ; and this is, too, the case of the Birch and of
many other seeds.

473. I, therefore, as the result of these reflections and
observations, went to work, and proceeded thus : I broke
the Plane balls to pieces, rubbed them well with the hand
to separate the wool from the seeds ; sifted out the seeds as

8 2

The Plane.

you would grain from chaff; put the seeds soaking in luke-
warm water for eight-and-forty hours ; took the seeds out
of the water, and mixed tliem with finely-sifted fresh earth,
ten gallons of earth to one gallon of seeds; put the mixture
upon a smooth place upon the bare ground ; turned and
re-mixed the heap every day, for four or five days, keeping
it covered with a mat whenever the turning and mixing
was not going on; and, as soon as I perceived here and
there a root beginning to appear, I sowed the seeds upon
a bed of sifted earth, mixed with the sifted mould just as
they came out of the heap.

474. There the seeds lay then, pretty nearly as thick as
they could well lay, on the top of the ground. In this state
1 watered them gently every evening with a fine-rosed
watering pot, kept them securely shaded from the sun by
mats, by the means of frames or hoops to keep the mats
from touching the ground, and took the mats off every
evening at about an hour after sun-set. In about a week,
I saw the roots coming out at the point of the nail, and
going down into the grovmd. Soon afterwards, the nails,
as I call them, began to raise their heads. In a few days
they were all standing bolt upright, and in a few days more,
the rusty looking coat was shuflled off, and out came the
seed leaves, resembling, as nearly as possible, the seed leaves
of the Red Beet-root, or those of the Mangel Wurzel.

475. After this, I shaded the plants less and less, till they
became hardy enough to be exposed during the whole of
the day. Instead of being done in April, this work was not
done until the month of July ; and therefore the plants were
a mere nothing in point of size in the month of October;
and were hardly in a condition to resist the frost without
some degree of covering. 1 am now about to plant them

The Plane.

out, and they will, I dare say, he very fine plants by the
next full. In this manner they M'ill stand in the seed-bed,
at less than an inch apart. A small space will give you
thousands and thousands of plants, at the expense of a very
few shillings.

476. As to the treatment of the plants after the seed-bed,
they should be put into a nursery in the manner directed
for the Ash. They have excellent roots, move without
risk, strike off at once ; and if, by early frosts or some other
accident, the leading shoot be injured, you have only to cut
off the injured part, down to the first live bud you come to :
another leader comes immediately ; the little crook that is
made by the change of the leader is completely grown out
the first year, and the tree grows up as straight as a rush.
These trees might stand one year or even two in the
nursery, before being finally planted out ; but they should
not stand longer, if you mean to have straight and beautiful
trees. Whether planted in clumps or in single trees, there
must be an effectual fence extending in such a way as to be
at five feet distance from the trunk of the tree in every di-
rection. It is little short of a mark of idiocy to plant trees,
and especially trees for ornament, and then to turn cattle in
to eat them I Yet, how often is this done ! The ground
ought to be kept clean until the tree attains a good height.
If you plant large trees, they must and they will be leaning
trees. The wind will make them take a leaning posture,
before the root be sufficiently powerful to cause them to
stand in an erect attitude. The roots of trees are their
foundations, their buttresses, their spurs ; and if these do
not come until after the tree begins to lean on one side,
they will indeed prevent it from falling, as an old wall is
prevented from falling by buttresses placed against it; but,
as these will never make the wall to stand upright, so the

The Poplar.

roots of a tree will never restore it to its erect attitude, it' it
once begin to lean.

477. The Plane should, like most other deciduous trees,
be cut down to the ground the year after it is planted out ;
it will then send up a surprisingly strong shoot ; and the
trunk will go on in a manner as straight as a gun-stick.
As it goes on rising, the lower side-shoots should be taken
off, always cutting close with a sharp knife, until you have
got a clear trunk to the length that you desire.

THIS roniiAH.

In Latin, Popuhis ; in French, Peuplier.

478. The Botanical characters are : — The male and female flowers grow
upon separate trees. The male flowers or katkins have one oblong, loose,
cylindrical empalement, which is imbricated. Under each scale, which is
oblong, plain, and cut on the border, is situated a single flower without any
petal, having a nectarium of one leaf, turbinated at the bottom, and tubulus
at the top, and eight stamina terminated by large four-cornered summits.
The female fiowers are in katkins, like the male, but have no stamina; they
have an oval, acute-pointed germen, with scarcely any style, crowned by a
four-pointed stigma. The germen becomes afterwards an oval capsule, with
two cells, including many oval seeds having hairy down.

479. This is a very numerous, and, according to my
taste, is, for the most part, a very worthless family of trees.
They all bear a seed in katkins, which come out early in
the spring, and the seed contained in which is ripe when
the katkins fall, which is generally late in May, or the be-
ginning of June. All the sorts may be raised from cuttings.
A cutting, or truncheon, stuck into the ground, produces

The Poplak.

the tree; and, in general, a very ugly tree it is; but it
grows fast, yields a great deal of stuff to make rough
boards of, outgrows a Fir beyond all comparison, and
makes good stuff for packing-cases, and other things for
■which pasteboard is a little too weak.

480. The sorts that we have in England, are the Abele
Tree {Popuhts Alba) ; the Aspen {Populus Tremiila) ; the
Black Poplar (Popidus Nigra) ; and that well-known
great, staring, ugly thing, called the Lombardy Poplar,
which, to all its other amiable qualities, is very apt to fur-
nish its neighbours Avith a surplus population of caterpil-
lar and other abominable insects. The first of these, the
Abele, is, howevtM-, a really fine tree, grows to a great
size and great height, especially near running water, and
produces timber, by no means to be despised. The wood
takes a fine polish, it is close-grained, though light; and is,
take it altogether, and considering all its uses, far prefera-
ble to the wood of the Elm ; but I have never seen it of
any considerable size, except in rich land, or very near to
running water.

481. The largest I ever saw, and the loftiest also, stands
opi)osite to a fine farm-house, near the Thames, on the road
from Hampton to Chertsey Bridge. The leaves of this
tree are white on the under side, and give the tree a white
appearance when blown up by the wind. The trunk, also,
is of a whitish hue, speckled with black. This tree throws
up abundance of suckers. If standing where the suckers
are mowed off by the scythe at hay-cutting time, it will
send up a new crop for the next year. Hence, this fine tree
is always raised from suckers. Like parent like child, and
the young trees send out suckers, and infest the whole
neighbourhood with them, by the time they attain the

The Poplar.

height of ten or twenty feet. These suckers are put into
nurseries when they are small, stand there till they are
large i and then, when planted out, are sure to lean on one
side.

482. The Aspen has a little round leaf that is continu-
ally in motion when there is a hreath of wind. The wood
of this tree is certainly good for as little as any wood can
well be. It is found in almost all our coppices ; and it con-
tinues to be found there, because people do not take the
pains to root it out. I never heard of any man that ever
thought of raising, or that ever wished to have, an Aspen
tree. If there should happen to be such a man^ he may be
gratified at any time, by cutting off a truncheon in Febru-
ary, of about two or three feet long, and sticking one-half
of it into the ground. Tiie tree will come from this simple
operation, and this is a great deal more pains than it is
worth.

483. The Black Poplar, or, as it is more frequently
called, the Black Italian Poplar, is a surprising thing
for quickness of growth. It is almost incredible, the size
to which a tree of this sort will attain in good ground in
the course of fifteen or twenty years. I planted some of
these trees in the plantation mentioned in paragraph 350.
They Avere, when planted, of about the same height of the
rest of the trees ; but, at the end of seven or eight years,
they were so lofty and so big, that the plantation looked
like here and there an old tree, with a parcel of little ones
planted round it. They were twice as big, and half as high
again, even as the Locusts. Thus situated, they were a
great dissight to the plantation, and I cut them down, and
tore up the roots, to put a stop to their breeding of suckers.
At the simie time, I thinned out the Locusts, had the

The Poplar.

brush of both cut off and carried away; but the trunks
were hiid down in the plantation, and, from some cause
which I now do not recollect, they remained there until the
next winter, when I had them taken away. The men, as
they brought the trunks out of the plantation, threw them
down upon the adjoining grass ground, and one of the
Poplars, pretty nearly as big round as my thigh, at the butt,
snapped short asunder. I had planted the trees in conse-
quence of the high encomiums passed on this sort of Poplar
by Mr. Pontky, in his book on " Profitable Planting." The
snapping asunder of this trunk was quite enough for me.
I instantly cut down and grubbed up every tree of the kind
that I had upon my premises. I examined the rest of the
trunks, and found them all very little better than touch-
wood. Nevertheless, this is a monstrous producer of boards
for packing cases, or for any other temporary uses where
durability is not required. The form of the trunk is spiral,
and the tree throws out no very large limbs ; but it pro-
duces wood in the trunk faster than any other tree that I
have ever seen.

484. This tree throws out suckers, but not so numerously
as the Abele. It is generally raised by the means of cut-
tings, about as big as your finger and a yard long, which
are put into the ground in the month of February to the
depth of half their length. They will send up shoots the
first year, only one of the stoutest of which shoots, should be
left. Thus will come a tree, which ought to be planted out
in the same manner as directed for the Ash.

485. As to the Lombardy Poplar, it is so utterly worth-
less, so ugly, and so filthy, that I cannot bring myself to
say any thing about it, except that it may be raised by

The Poplar.

either truncheons or cuttings, in the manner before pointed
out.

486. Of the American Poplar?, there are ten sorts : —
the Carolinian Poplar (Populm Angulata) ; the Cotton
Wood {Popidus Canadensis) ; the Black Poplar {Popidus
Hudsonica) ; the Virginian Poplar {Popidus Molinifera) ;
the Cotton Tree {Popidus Hargentea) ; the Balsam Poplar
{Popidus Balsamifera)f or T AC AM AH AC A Tree; the Hear i-
leaved Poplar {Popidus Candicans). Besides tliese, there
are the American White Poplar {Popidus Canescens) ; the
American Aspen {Popidtis Tremuloides) ; and the American
Large Aspen {Populus Grandidenta) .

48/. Like the English Poplars, the wood of all these is
good for very little; and can be very seldom used in a
country where excellent sorts of timber are so numerous
and so abundant. Cuttings and truncheons, even if we had a
mind to raise the trees, could not be brought from America.
They may be all raised in that manner; and if any body
has a mind to possess this American collection, the seed
might be easily brought over.

488. Now, if it were desirable to have very fine and
beautiful Poplar trees, why not raise them from the seed ?
One complaint against the Poplar Trees, is, that they
drop their katkins in such abundance, that they litter the
ground all about, and make the neighbouring lawns and
walks so very unsightly. These katkins are full of little
oblong seeds covered M'ith a soft down. I never sowed any
of them ; but, I am sure that the trees may be raised easily
from the seeds. I do not know that the seed would send
the plant up, from under ground, because the kernel, in

The Sassafras.

proportion to its size, is very much loaded with its wool
and its shell; and, therefore, it might act like the kernel of
the Plane, vegetate under the ground, and never send up a
plant} but, I am very sure, that the plants may be raised
from seed, by sowing the seed in the same manner as that
which I have, on my own ex[)erience, recommended to be
practised in the case of the Plane.

In. Latin Lauriia Sassafras ; in French Sassafras.

4S'J. The botauical characters are : — It has male ami hermaphrodite flow-
ers on different plants ; the male flowers have no empalements ; they have
one petal, which is cut into six seg^ments at the top, and nine stamina which
are shorter than the petal, standing by threes, terminated by slender sum-
mits. The hermaphrodite flowers have no empalements ; they have one
petal, which is slightly cut into six segments at the top. In the bottom is
situated an oval germen supporting a single style of the same length with the
petal, crowned by an obtuse stigma, attended by six or eight stamina : there
are two globular glands, standing upon very short foot stalks fixed to the
basis of the petal. The germen afterwards becomes an oval berry with one
cell, enclosing one seed of the same form.

490. This is called by the botanists a Laurel ; and the
reader might be apt to suppose it to be an evergreen, which
it is not. I am writing about trees and underwoods of uti-
lity, and not of mere ornament; but if there be both com-
prised in the same tree, it being greatly ornamental, cer-
tainly does not lessen its utility any more than the beauty of
a maid servant lessens the utility of the activity, cleanliness,
skill, civility, and excellent good humour, with which that
description of persons generally perform their various and
very necessary functions. The use of the Sassafras is to

The Sassafras.

be found in its harh, and particularly in the bark of its roots,
which has now been in general use all over Europe, amongst
the practiscrs of the healing art, for upwards of two hundred
years. For myself, I must say, that I have had no experience
of its utility; but others have, or think they have, which, in
such a case, is pretty nearly as good.

491. Bark, wood, leaf, seed, flower, all have a pretty
strong, and by no means a disagreeable, odour ; and one
never would imagine that it was medicine, if one did not so
often hear it talked of as an excellent sudorific. The Ame-
ricans gather the flowers in the spring, and carry them to
the great cities, where the overcharged specndators stand
in need of stomachics, and, for various weighty reasons,
of something to purify the blood; and, if the Sassafras
would but purify the morals at the same time, it ought to
be cultivated liberally in every mercantile and manufac-
turing town of the mother as well as of the daughter
country. The farming people, taking compassion on the
overgorged citizens, and not, doubtless, from any desire to
drain their purses while they are purifying their blood,
gather the flower in the month of May, in Long
Island for instance, carry them down to New York in great
quantities, and there charge for them only the very mode-
rate price of four English pence a pint ; when any long
Yankee, assisted by a little bit of a ladder, would easily
gather twenty bushels a day ! Yet you see the " Yorkers "
running to the market with all possible eagerness to obtain
this means of restoring or preserving their health, never
imagining that they would stand in no need of Sassafras
tea, if they would but abstain a little from their breakfasts
of beef-steaks, and their glasses of grog from morning
to night.

The Sassafras.

492. The farmers, in many places, boil the young shoots
in water, to which they add some treacle, and which, when
it has stood some time to ferment, they call " beer," and
drink it as such (alternately with their grog) during the
whole of the summer. Michaux says, that the dried leaves
and the young branches of the Sassafras contain a muci-
laginous principle ; and that, " in Louisiana, the leaves are
" used by the inhabitants to thicken and to give a high
" relish to their pottage."

493. Such are the medical, the culinary, and domestic
uses of this tree ; but, in this country, it will scarcely ever
be planted with a view to profit, except for the sake of its
bark, though its wood is not an inferior one by any means.
A proof of its being pretty good is, that it is frequently
used for the making of posts in farm fences ; sometimes
for joists and rafters ; more frequently still for bedsteads,
which, on account of its odour, perhaps, are known to be
never infected with "insects," as Michaux, having con-
tracted the habit of American delicacy, calls fleas, bugs,
and lice. But here would arise a difficulty, namely, vvhat
are to become of the "insects" if the body happen to take
them into the bed. An excellent cleanser of the body the
bedstead might be ; but then the "insects" must be abso-
lutely compelled to beat a march, and would then distribute
themselves all over the house.

494. The bark is the thing for which we must look at
this tree as an article of profit. Very large quantities of
it are brought into all the countries of Europe, and to this
country amongst the rest. Sometimes it is imported in the
shape of oil or extract ; and there are manufactories in
America for the purpose of obtaining these from the bark.

The Sassafras.

I remember seeing one, in New Jersey, with not less, I am
sure, than five hundred wagon loads of the exhausted bark
lying in the neighbourhood of the building. Our Custom-
tariff shows that we import a great deal ; and, if it can be
produced here, out of our own land, no political economist
that ever crossed the Tweed shall make me believe that it
would not be better for us to do this, than to send English
manufactures, paid for in great part out of the poor-rates,
to be exchanged for this article in America.

495. After all, however, with me the great recommen-
dation is, the singular beauty of the tree. It sometimes, in
good land, attains the height of forty or fifty feet, but it
does not grow very fast after the first six or seven years ;
and, therefore, as timber, it is excelled by so many other
trees, and, as underwood, it being good for nothing, the
Sassafras cannot be spoken of as a tenant of woods or
coppices, but, for hedge rows, it would be excellent. It is
hardy in the extreme ; it will thrive on the most arid soil.
It is seen in company with that hardiest of trees, the Red
Cedar j it sends out suckers like an Elder. When once
there is a stem of it in a hedge row, you are sure to have
it there in abundance, until you clearly grub up the
whole row.

496. Then, as to the beauty of the tree, I scarcely know
one that surpasses it. The leaf is, in substance, that of the
Common Laurel ; but, in colour, more bright and pleasing
to the eye ; and, as to the shape of the leaf, the leaves
have various shapes upon the same tree ; some oblong,
others much broader than long, and having one, two, three,
or four deep openings in their sides, full iudf as deep as the
openings between the fingers of a man's hand. The tree

The Sassafras.

comes into bloom A-^ery early in the spring, and is covered
all over with large bunches of yellow flowers, each flower
rather insignificant in itself, but the whole making a very
gay show. In the fall of the year, in the month of October
in Long Island, the seeds become ripe ; they stand upon
stalks of a red colour, at the end of which there are red
cups, very much in the form of an ale-glass, and into the
cups the small end of the berry, which is precisely of the
shape of a hen's egg, and which is of a deep purple colour;
into this red cup, of the shape of an ale -glass, the small
end of the purple egg just enters, and is apparently there
held by nothing. The tree, at this season, is still more
beautiful than in the spring, if you come near it ; for,
though it is generally loaded with seeds, these cannot be
seen from a distance, like the flowers, which come out in
the spring, while the leaves are very young and small. As
soon as the berries become purple, they are ripe ; and, as
soon as they are ripe, they are, if you wait one single day
too long, devoured by the birds.

497. It is very singular that so beautiful a tree should
have so long continued to be so rare in England as it is. I
never saw but two in England, one in Kew Gardens, and
the other in a little garden which, when I saw it, belonged
to the Dowager Lady Lonsdale, near the Banks of the
Thames, in Fulham Parish. I first saw this tree about
twenty years ago. I saw it again about five years back,
and it was grown very much. After my return from Ame-
rica, in 1819, I asked a nurseryman how he sold young
Sassafras plants ? He told me that he had none, and that
such a thing was not to be had under a guinea, or half-a-
guinea at the least. I asked him why he did not import
the seed from America ? and he told me that that was of
no use, for that it could not be made to grow j but that he

The Sassafras.

should like to get some of the plants. The truth is, that
the few that there are in England (except those that I have
raised from the seed) have been raised from suckers,
coming from j)lants, originally brought from America. It
was difficult to make me believe, that the seed would not
grow in England ; and, therefore, as soon as I got some
land, I began to import the seed; and, I sowed it, of
course, but for years I never got any plants.

498. This seed is a most curious thing. It has a pulp on
the outside, within that pulp a thin shell, within that shell
a plump fleshy kernel very large in proportion to the whole
bulk of the berry. I, for want of looking into Miller, ex-
pected such soft seeds to come up the first summer after
they were sovi^n ; and never seeing them come up, I, year
after year, dug up the ground and sowed it with something
else. Miller would have told me, that the seeds lie two
years in the ground, and sometimes three years; in short,
he would have told me all that I now know ; for, in the
spring of the year 18261 sowed several small beds of these
seeds. I resolved not to break them up the first year ; and
last spring, they came up tolerably well ; and I have sold
several hundreds of them this winter. Nurserymen have
generally a strange aversion to the raising of trees from
seeds ; and it appears that this aversion is hereditary, going
down from father to son, and from master to apprentice ;
for Miller, after teaching the mode of raising the trees
from seeds, immediately tells us, that the general practice
is to raise them from layers, which is very seldom attended
with success ; and that, says he, is the reason, why this tree
is so very rare in England. The truth is, Miller's book
was too large : there was too much of it for a gentleman
to read ; and as to gardenei's, they were, in his time, as
they are in these times, much too wise, and of a great deal

The Sassafras.

too much experience, to sufter themselves to be directed
by books.

499. One whole year therefore, you must wait for the
seed coming up j that is to say, if you sow it this spring",
you must wait till next spring before you can see the plants
come above ground ; and sometimes you must wait even
another year in addition, soft as the seed is when it goes
into the ground. There is doubtless something in the oil,
or some other matter that is about it, which requires that
length of time, to subdue its poAvers of preventing vege-
tation.

500. The young plants will attain the height of from five
to seven inches the first summer ; and then, early in the
month of November, they ought to be removed, with all
possible care, into a nursery, the ground of which ought to
be very good and made very fine, the manner of removal
being the same as that directed for the Ash in paragraphs
120, 121 and 122. In this nursery these plants ought to
stand two or three years. If they lose their points in the
seed-bed, as they are apt to do if there be sharp early frosts,
you must cut the point back to the first live bud, and then
the tree will shoot up again. They will not make much
progress the first year j for the wood is hard, and the plant
of slow growth, while very young; but, when once it gets
to be two or three feet high, it pushes on at a fair rate. ;

501. Having stood in the nursery two or three years, the
plants ought to be put in the spot where they are finally
to grow. Great care must be taken in the removal ; but if
the work be well done, the plants are sure to grow. When
the plants have stood two years, they may safely be cut down
if you choose j and then, they will send up a shoot of two

T

The Sassafras.

or three feet long the first year. If you wisli to h.ive the
tree lofty, you must keep the lower side-shoots pruned off,
in the manner directed for other deciduous trees, always
cutting with a sharp knife and close to the trunk. If you
plant in hedge-rows, or in shrubberies, and do not want the
tree to attain any considerable height, the best way would
be to cut off, within a foot or a foot and a half of the
ground, this will bring out two or three stout shoots, these
will become limbs in time, and you will have a low tree
with a wide spreading head.

502. When once the tree gets to be as big as your arm
at the butt, it will begin to throw out suckers, especially
if the lateral roots should be cut or torn by the plough or
spade. These suckers, if they come up in the hedge-rows,
may stand till they throw out suckers again ; and they will
soon spread along a hedge- row of several hundred yards in
length, yielding an immense quantity of that salubrious
bark, the nature of which is so precious as to cause it to
be imported, and to be purchased and consumed, though
loaded with a heavy duty.

503. Now, our hedge-rows are generally filled with all
sorts of rubbish; Maple, Elm Stumps, Scrubby Oak
Stumps, Elder Stumps, Brambles, Knek-holm, and vari-
ous other good-for-nothing things, which are, at the same
time, as unsightly as they are worthless. Any where near
a good house, the Sassafras would make beautiful Hedge
Rows. In clumps, in independent trees, upon lawns, in
shrubberies, they would be singularly ornamental j covered
with blossoms very early in the spring (not later than the
20th March) ; loaded with fine bright leaves all the sum-
mer, which leaves die in the fall of the brightest yellow
colour J this tree, uniting all these qualities, would, if it

The Thorn (Black).

were to become common, be really an ornament to the
country ; and common it may be, if people will take the
pains to send for the seed. I have sold the trees this year
for a shilling a-piece j next year, if I have good luck, I dare
say I shall sell them for twenty or thirty shillings a hun-
dred ; and, if I keep on my nursery affair, I should not
wonder if I were to sell them the year after, for ten or
fifteen shillings a hundred ; in the mean while, I am now
about to sell some of the seed ; and therefore, other people
may raise them if they will, at the rate perhaps of five for
a penny.

THi: TKonsr (sZiAck).

In Latin, Prumis Sylvestris.

504. The botanical cliaracters are : — The flower has a belUshaped empale-
rpentof one leaf, cut into five parts ; it has five large roundish petals which
spread open, and are inserted in the empalement ; and from twenty to
thirty stamina which are nearly as long as the petals, and are also inserted
in the empalement, terminated by twin summits. It has a roundish German
supporting a slender style crowned by an orbicular stigma. The Germen
afterwards turns to a roundish fruit, enclosing a nut of the same form.

505. The tree, or rather the bush, on the subject of
which I am now about to hope for the reader's attention,
is pretty well known to most English people, who will
generally, perhaps, look upon it as something of little im-
portance ; but which is of real importance as to the two
great purposes to which it is applied ; namely, the making
of excellent hedges, and the making of excellent Port
wine: in which last of its functions 1 shall consider it
first.

T 2

The Thorn (Black).

506. Every one knows that this is a Thorn of the Plum
kind; that it bears very small black plums, which are
called Sloes, which have served love-song poets, in all ages,
with a simile whereby to describe the eyes of their beauties,
as the snow has constantly served them with the means
of attempting to do something like justice to the colour
of their skins and the purity of their minds, and as the
rose, has served to assist them in a description of the
colour of their cheeks.

507- These beauty-describing sloes, have a little plum-
like pulp, which covers a little roundish stone, pretty
narly as hard as iron, with a small kernel in the inside of it.
This pulp, which I have eaten many times when I was a
boy until my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth and
my lips were pretty nearly glued together, is astringent
beyond the pov/ers of alum. The juice expressed from
this pulp, is of a greenish black, and, mixed with water, in
which a due proportion of logwood has been steeped,
receiving, in addition, a sufficient proportion of cheap
French brandy, makes the finest Port wine in the world,
makes the whiskered bucks, while they are picking their
teeth after dinner, smack their lips, observing that the wine
is beautifully rough, and that they like " a dry wine that
has a good ' LocIt/.' "

508. It is not, however, as a fruit-tree that I am here
about to speak seriously to sensible people: it is of a bush,
excellent for the making of hedges, and not less excellent
for the making of walking sticks and swingles of flails.
The Black Thorn blows very early in the spring. It is a
Plum, and it blows at the same time, or a very little earlier,
than the Plums. It is a remarkable fact, that there is
always, that is every year of our lives, a spell of cold and

The Thorn (Black).

angry weather, just at the time that this hardy little tree
is in bloom. The country people call it the Black Thorn
icinter; and thus it has been called, I dare say, by all the
inhabitants of this island, from generation to generation, for
a thousand years.

509. This Thorn is as hardy as the White Thorn ; its
thorns are sharper and longer ; it grows as fast ; its wood
is a great deal harder and more tough ; it throws out a
great deal more in side-shoots j and it is, in every respect,
better than the Hawthorn for the making of a Hedge. If
I be asked, how it has happened, then, that the Hawthorn
is constantly used for this purpose, and the Black Thorn
never, or scarcely ever, I answer, that the reason is very
clear j namely, that a sack of the seed of the Hawthorn
may, almost anywhere, be got for a shilling or half a crown
at the most ; and that, to get a number of Black Thorn
sloes, equal in number to the Hawthorn berries contained
in a sack, would, in almost any part of the kingdom, cost
five, ten, nay twenty pounds.

510. The sloe is very large compared with the size of
the Hawthorn berry j you must get six sacks perhaps of
the sloes to have a number equal to the berries contained
in one sack ; and six sacks of sloes, except in very woody
comitries, would not be found perhaps in the half of a
whole county. The tree, like other plums, is liable to
blight. It seldom bears any considerable crop, and very
frequently bears no fruit at all. It grows no where excejU
in hedge-rows and coppices : in the former it is too much
exposed to bear much fruit ; and in the latter, it is too
much in the shade to bear any fruit at all. Hence it is,
that, though all of us who have been born and bred in the
country know that the Black Thorn is by far the best of

The Thorn (Black).

the two, we never heard of such a thing as the planting of
a Black Thorn Hedgk.

511. As bushes, for the making of hedges, the Black
Thorn is ahvays carefully laid by when hedge-rows and
coppices are cut. These bushes will lay longer in a dead
hedge without perishing than any other sort of stuff of
which dead hedges are made. This Thorn will thrive, and
that vigorously too, in the very poorest of land. It sends up
straighter shoots from the stem than the White Thorn
does, and these shoots send out, from their very bottom,
numerous and vigorous side-shoots, all armed with sharp
thorns. The knots produced by these side-shoots are so
thickly set, that, when the shoot is cut, whether it be little
or big, it makes the most beautiful of all walking or riding
sticks. The bark, which is precisely of the colour of the
Horse Chesnut fruit, and as smooth and as bright, needs no
polish ; and, ornamented by the numerous knots, the stick
is the very prettiest that can be conceived. Little do the
bucks, when they are drinking Port wine (good old rough
Port), imagine, that, by possibility, the beautiful stick
with which they are tapping the sole of their boot, while
admiring their legs ; never does their philosophy carry
them so far as to lead them to reflect, that, by possibility,
for the *' fine old Port," which has caused them so much
pleasure, they are indebted to the very stick with which
they ai'e caressing their admired Wellington boots !

512. In some situations, it would not be difficult to obtain
Black Thorn seed enough to plant a hedge of consider-
able length ; and, at any rate, it may be done if any one
will take the pains j and, therefore, I shall now proceed to
state the manner of raising the plants. The seeds are not
properly ripe until j)rctty late in the month of October,

The Thorn (Black).

They may be sufteied to hang till they are dead ripe, pi'o-
vided the boys do not find them out ; for though, as we have
seen, excellent in the making of Port wine, they are rather
too astringent, too "rough," for the birds, whose tastes
seem to differ from the lovers of " Good Old Fort." When
ripe, they should be gathered ; mixed with dampish sand,
kept turned in a cellar or a shed, until the month of Feb-
ruary, and then sowed in beds in the manner directed in the
case of the Ash.

513. Like the seed of the Plum, that of the Black Thorn
comes up the first year ; that is to say, if not sowed too late,
and if kept in moist sand or earth until the time of sowing ;
and without these precautions, Plum-stones will lie a whole
year before they begin to sprout, as Peach and Apricot
stones will. If managed in the manner that I have here
directed, the Black Thorn plants will be up in the month of
May, and in the month of October afterwards, they will be
from five to eight inches high. In the month of November,
or in the next month of March, they ought to be removed
into a nursery, being assorted and planted in the manner
directed for the Hawthorn, paragraph 275; and as to the
manner of putting them into hedges ; as to the age of the
plants for this Vi^ork, as to the season, and every thing else
relating to it ; the reader will first turn to paragraph 2/6,
and after that to paragraphs 34 to 37 inclusive.

514. As an ornamental shrub, or little tree, the Black
Thorn is by no means equal in beauty to the Hawthorn ;
neither the shape nor colour of the leaf is equal to that of
the White Tfwrn nor is the leaf nearly so abundant; in
proportion to the size of the tree. But, the Black Thorn
comes into bloom a full month, if not six weeks, before the
Hawthorn ; and it makes a very gay show, when scarcely

The Tulip Tree.

any blossoms have appeared, or any tree is in leaf. Clumps
of Black Thorns, therefore, or independent plants of this
kind, might be placed very advantageously in parks and
lawns; and, if managed well, even in shrubberies; for
they are in bloom much earlier than any other shrub. The
plant has so many advantages over the Hawthorn, that
it is impossible that it should not be cultivated, in many
cases, in preference to the Hawthorn, were it not for
the great difficulty of obtaining the seed in any considerable
quantity.

THE TULIP TIIES.

In Latin Liriodendrum ; in French Tulipier.

515. The botanical characters are : — The proper involucrum of the flower is
composed of two angular leaves, which fall oflf; the empalement is composed
of three oblong plane leaves, like petals, which fall away. The flower is
nearly of the bell-shape, and has six petals, which are obtuse, and channelled
at their base ; the three outer fall off"; it has a great number of narrow
stamina, which are inserted to the receptacle of the flower, having long
narrow summits fastened to their side, and many germen disposed in a cone,
having no style, crowned by a single globular stigma. The germen afterwards
becomes scaly seeds, lying over each other, like the scales of fish, and form
the resemblance of a cone,

516. There is but one species of Tulip Tree; but that one,
as the lioness said of her Cub, is a tree indeed. This tree,
as an ornamental piece of vegetation, is certainly one of the
finest in the world. The leaf is so large, formed with such
singular elegance, is of so beautiful a green, preserves its
freshness so admirably, dies of so delicate a colour, and is in
such ample quantity on the tree; the flower, though not

The Tulip Tree.

beautiful as a flower, is so large, is in form so elegant,
comes in such quantities, and invites the eye to so great a
height ; the trunk of the tree is so straight, the limbs so
evenly balanced upon it, their distribution is so regular,
and, in short, the whole tree is so magnificent an object,
that it is impossible for any one who has a taste for rural
affairs not to desire to see this tree extensively planted in
England.

517. -But, great as its merits are as an ornament even to
the grandest of mansions and domains, its ornamental qua-
lities are nothing compared with those which are presented
to us in its divers qualities of utility. This tree delights in
a light and moist soil. I have always seen it finest in
little flats near to rivers or brooks. In such places it grows
a great deal higher than in high or dry lands ; but it does
not want rich lands, and there are numerous little valleys
and dells, in divers parts even of Bagshot-heath, where
the water comes oozing out of the sides of the hills, and
makes a sort of little swamp, and marshes, in which this
tree, with a little draining of the swamp, and a good
trenching of the land, would flourish exceedingly. But, in
every Gentleman's estate of any considerable extent, there
are more or less of rivulets of various widths ; and, on the
sides of these rivulets, there are always frequently occurring,
little flat parts, covered in flood times by the water ; and
of course, veiy moist all the summer. In such places,
and on the sides of rivulets and ditches in meadows, the
Tulip Tree w^ould flourish exceedingly. It does not like
ground where the bottom is constantly water ; but where it
is occasionally wet. Such a situation, however, is not
absolutely necessary, for I have seen very fine Tulip Trees,
from seventy to ninety feet high, growing on the side of a
hill amongst rocks. In short, there is hardly any ground

Thk Tulip Trek.

where it will not attain a pretty good size ; but the situa-
tions I have poiuted out are the best.

518. The height of this tree, when it arrives at perfec-
tion, may be taken, upon an average, at a hundred feet.
MicHAUX saw one which he judged to be one hunch-ed and
forty feet high ; and his son, who is now living at Paris,
and who imports American tree seeds into France, after-
wards verified the correctness of the estimate. Michaux
measured this tree and found it twenty-two feet and a half
in circumference, at five feet from the ground ; that is to
say, about seven feet three inches through. A plank might,
I dare say, have been cut out of this tree, fifty feet in length
and four feet in breadth at the smallest end. My corre-
spondent sent me some Tulip-tree planks last year, one of
which was fourteen feet long, and very nearly four feet
wide at both ends ; though these planks were not selected
for their great dimensions, but were merely planks such as
he promiscuously found in the timber-yards of New York,
and sent to me as a sort of venture to see how they would
sell, I sold the greater part, and kept the rest for my own
use. In the whole lot, forty-seven planks, there was not to
be seen a single knot, curl, or flaw.

519. The wood, which is n early of a iemou colour, is
made use of in America for various purposes, where light-
ness, fine grain, and high polish, are all wanted. It is made
use of particularly for coach-pannels, for which purpose it
is carried from the Northern to the Southern parts of the
United States. It makes beautiful bedsteads, butter churns,
cheese vats, wooden bowls (of which 1 have one that will
hold more than a bushel). The farmers choose it for eating
and drinking troughs for cattle, which troughs are cut out
of a solid piece with a chisel. The wood receives a polish

Thk TuLir Tree.

equal to that of any wood j and I am told that a cabin of a
small packet, which goes on the Thames, from Westmin-
ster Bridge upwards, made of this wood, sold by me to the
proprietor of the packet, is deemed the most beautiful
thing of the kind, that ever was seen, by those who have
had an opportunity of seeing it. The colour of the wood
appears to me, to be about half way between a lemon
colour and a white. 1 have used some of it in making
shelves for a dairy and dressers for a kitchen ; and, though
not at all polished, I have never seen any thing of the kind
so handsome.

520. I should suppose, that this wood might be obtained
at as little expense as that of any of the Poplars j it might
be a little longer in coming to perfection; that is to say, in
arriving at a size sufficient for large plank ; but a plank of
it must be worth twenty planks of Poplar of the same size,
if not a hundred planks. It is a tree that grows very fast>
and when raised from the seed goes erect, and 'does not
send out limbs to any very great extent until it becomes
nearly as lofty as the Plane. Generally speaking, it is not
so large and lofty a tree as the Plane j but, flowers in-
cluded, it certainly surpasses even that majestic tree in
elegance and beauty. We have in England nothing but
very imperfect specimens of this tree, though it has been
known in England for pretty nearly a hundred years, and
though there is scarcely any fine gentleman's seat in the
kingdom on some part of which the tree is not to be found.
Miller speaks of raising the trees from the seed, and says
that he did it by means of artificial heat. But we gather
from him, that raising from the seed was never practised to
any considerable extent, and that the practice of raising
from layers was, even in his day, the general practice. In
order to have these layers, there must first be a tree grow-

The Tulip Tree.

ing in the nursery. The tree being cut down nearly to the
ground, sends out numerous shoots from the bottom.
When these grow up to eight, ten or twelve feet high, they
are pulled down, a chop is given to each, pretty near to the
stump, and that enables you to lay the whole branch or
bough upon the ground, to which it is firmly fastened by a
peg, having a hook at the top of it. Then the little side-
shoots of this branch are pinned down singly by smaller
pegs, each shoot receiving a little cut towards the butt of it,
pretty much in the manner that the cut is given to the
layers of Carnationsj then all the butts of these side-shoots
are covered over with earth j and, being kept moist by
watering or otherwise in the summer, they, in the course
of a couple or three years, get roots. They are then cut off
from the main shoot, one by one, trimmed up, and planted
in a nursery, where they are, I suppose, cut down the next
year, in order to obtain a straight shoot, which is to serve as
a trunk,

521. Every reader must at once perceive that a tree
never can be obtained in this manner. It is a hranch of a
tree, and a branch of a tree it must remain, until it be big
enough to be called a limb; and then, like every big limb,
it will be continually throwing out side-shoots, to form
limbs of a secondary size. A fair and straight trunk never
does and never can come from it; and, of course, large and
clear and beautiful plank never can be produced in this
way. Therefore, to have the trees worth having, they
must be raised from the seed ; and that seed must be ob-
tained from America; for I have no idea that it ever can
ripen under an English sun. It is, however, very easily
obtained, very light for conveyance, very conveniently
preserved, and attended with very little inconvenience in
the sowing or the managing.

The Tulip Tree.

522. When the petals of the flower drop, they leave
behind them a little sort of cone, coming out of the
middle of the stem of the flower. This cone gets at last
to be about two inches long, and about three quarters
or an inch through. It is composed of scales, which are
perfectly dry in the fall of the year, and easily rubbed to
pieces by the hand. One of these scales very much re-
sembles, in shape, the tongue of an ox, with a small part
of the root remaining attached to the tongue. This scale
is like a piece of thin, dead bark ; but, down nearly close to
the root of it, there are two little cavities, in each of which,
when the seed is good and well ripened, there is a little flat
and oblong seed about half the size of the pith of a common
oat. These seeds are covered by a very thick coat ; and it
is so difficult to get them out of the scale, that it is neces-
sary to sow scale and all, without making an attempt to
get at the naked seeds.

523. The manner of sowing the seeds is precisely that
pointed out for the sowing of the Ash, for which see from
paragraph 108 to paragraph 112, both inclusive. In that
part of the work, I have been very circumstantial and
minute relative to the manner of sowing ; and I was so, for
the purpose of saving myself the trouble of repetition, as
well as for that of preventing the book from extending to
an unnecessary bulk. But, as to the season of sowing, that
must depend upon circumstances. The seed must always
arrive from America some time in the winter. If sowed in
the spring, and in April, or even in May, which I think is
best, the plants will not come up until the month of May
of the succeeding year ; but then all of them will come up
that will ever come at all. If you were to keep the seeds
out of ground during the whole of the summer, and sow
them in the month of October or November, a part would

The Tulip Trek.

come up the next spring; but it would be only a part.
Therefore, the best way is to sow them in April or May,
when you can do it, with very fine earth, and in the com-
pletest manner.

524. Though the seeds will not come up during the
summer, you must be very careful to keep the beds per-
fectly free from weeds; for, if weeds were suffered to cover
them, they would deprive the seeds of all moisture. The
weeds must be taken out as soon as they appear, be-
cause, if suffered to grow large, the pulling of them up
makes great holes, disturbs the ground to a considerable
depth, and, of course, tears up, exposes to the sun and
wind, and destroys the seeds. These directions are very
necessary to be given, and to be impressed upon the reader;
because we are very much prone to suffer to lie neglected,
that portion of our ground which we know will bring us
nothing until the next year. This is being, to be sure, very
inconsiderate; for the seed is going on under the ground,
though it does not appear above it ; and it is just as reason-
able to neglect to pay attention to trees in the seed-bed,
because they do not as yet produce us timber or fruit.

525. These trees come up with two oblong seed leaves,
not very long, nor very broad, but too singular to be mis-
taken for weeds. The weeds will start along with them ;
and these must be kept out of the bed with the greatest
care during the whole of the summer. When the plants
are all up, which will be in the month of June, the ground
should be stirred between them shallowly by the means of
a little hook ; for, having laid unmoved for a whole year,
submitting alternately to tlie beatings of the rain and the
dryings of the sun, it will become very hard ; and, unless
it be broken after the plants be up, they will not thrive

The Tctlip Tree.

nearly so well. It wouki be good, just to break the ground
all over the beds, in the month of March, with an irou-
toothed rake, pushing the rake from you, and not drawing
it to you, and not taking more ground than an inch or two
at a time. This would make the plants come up with
greater ease, and come up stronger; but you must take
care not to suffer the teeth of the rake to descend deep
enough to disturb the seeds, the roots from which will ail
be now m motion.

326. If the plants be well managed during the summer,
they will be about four inches high in the month of October;
for they make very little progress the first year. They
should then be taken and put into a nursery, in the manner
directed for the Ash hi paragraphs from 120 to 122 inclusive;
but, in this case, much greater care must be taken than
is necessary to be taken in the case of the Ash. The plants
are a great deal smaller, and therefore require to be put
hito the nursery by the hand, and in the most careful
manner, taking care to make the earth very fine that you
put about their roots, and taking care that they stand in
the nursery precisely as deep in the ground as they stood
in the seed-bed, and by no means any deeper. If the
weather be very dry, just after they be put into the nursery,
the plants ought to be watered, once at least.

527. They should stand in the seed-bed two years at the
least, and perhaps three, for it is a plant that does not
grow very fast at first. While there, no weeds should be
suffered to appear, or at least none should be suffered to
get out of their seed leaf. A careful hoeing should be
given several times during the summer, but the hoe should
be narrow, and great care should be taken not to bruise the
stems of the plants j for, if once bruised, the check given

The Tulip Tree.

to the growth is very great. This work ought to be per-
formed, and in the same manner, in the nurseries of all
other trees J but particularly in the nurseries of those trees
which must go into the nursery when but of a very small
size; and the Tulip Tree is one of those.

528. In two or three years, the plants will attain the
height of from two feet to three. Their side-shoots ought
to be cut off at the bottom, to prevent their being too much
loaded with leaf, and to encourage the growth of the stem
or trunk. When they have stood in the nursery two or
three years, they are at a proper age to be planted out.
The planting out should be performed in the same manner
as directed for the Ash, and as was before directed in
paragraph 75. The season for doing the work is Novem-
ber or March J and let it be done when it may, the greatest
possible care should be taken to keep the roots, during
their transit from the nursery to the plantation, from the
sun and the wind.

529. The Tulip Tree needs not to be cut down the
year after being planted. It has a bushy root, transplants
well, and it is not, in my opinion, a tree that it would be
advantageous to cut down. If it were cut down, it would
send up a new shoot; but I am not certain that it would
send up a shoot to go on faster and better than the original
one; because the root always strikes off at once; and be-
cause there would be no want of a supply of sap during the
first year. If, however, from any cause, the trees were to
appear to be stagnant during the first year, they ought to
be cut down as directed for the Ash; for a new shoot would
certainly come, and it might be equal in all respects to the
original shoot. In all cases where trees are cut down with
the intention of bringing up a new shoot to form a tree ,

The Tulip Trek.

great care should be taken that only one shoot be suffered
to remain. There will be several of them come out, but
all must be taken off exce[)t one, and that, too, during the
first summer. During the next winter, the trees should be
looked over, one by one. The shoot that has been left to go
on to become a tree, will be found, ninety-nine times out
of a hundred, to have come out of the stump, somewhere
considerably below the cut; so that there will remain a
piece of the old stump higher up than the lower end of the
new shoot. This piece of old stump, if suffered to remain,
would become a piece of dead wood, which the bark of the
new shoot would never cover, and which would make the
tree crooked at bottom. Therefore, now, during the next
winter after the trees have been cut down, these stubs
should be carefully taken off with a sharp knife, in a sloping
direction, the slope ending at the top, just at the point
where the new shoot has come out of the stump. By two
year's growth, the new shoot will cover the cut completely
over; it will place the new shoot perpendicularly upon the
old stump or foundation of the tree, and no man will be
able to perceive that there ever has been any cutting down
at all. I have mentioned this operation under the head of
other trees, but I repeat the mention of it here, and with
greater minuteness than before, because it is an operation
perfectly essential to the growth, the health, and the beauty
of a tree that has been cut down.

530. With regard to distances, in a plantation of Tulip
Trees, we are first to consider that it is a tree calculated
to produce nothing but timber. Poles of it would be a great
deal better than those that come from the Poplars, or from
the Firs ; but we have things enough to produce poles ;
and therefore we never can plant it for the purjjoses of
under\vood ; yet, as it must stand with distances sufficient

u

The Tulip Tree.

to give room for its growth to a large sizCj there must be
something else, if we make woods of it, to occupy the ground
l)eneath it. Michaux tells us, that though the tree delights
most in damp situations, he has seen it mingled amongst
all other trees; and that he has sometimes seen it constitut-
ing, exclusively, tracts of forest for many miles together, in-
cluding hills as well as dells; so that we might plant it any
where, only bearing in mind that low and damp situations
are the best for this tree.

531 . The ground for the plantation, ought, as in all other
cases, to be prepared by good trenching, after the manner
described in ])aragraplis from 15 to 21 inclusive, taking
care to distinguish between the two methods there pointed
out, and to follow that method which is calculated for the
land which you have to plant in. The ground being |)re-
pared, the Tulip Tkees ought to be placed in it in rows at
eight feet apart, the plants at eight feet apart in the row;
for the Tulip Tree does not spread like the Oak and many
others. Between each two Tulip Trees, in their rows,
you might plant in dry ground. Hazel or Birch as under-
wood : and, besides these plants put into the Tulip Tree
rows, you might have, between every two rows of Tulip
Trees, two rows of Hazel or of Birch; so that all the
rows would stand at four feet apart, and all the plants at
four feet apart in each row; and thus a coppice would be
going on and yielding its profits, while the wood of the
Tulip Trees would be towering up. If in wet or moist
soil, the best underwood would be the Birch. The Wil-
low would be too unruly; it would spread about too much,
and could not be profitably applied without being suffered
to grow to a greater height and size than those at which the
Birch would become profitable. The Birch is a more
trim thing, goes more upright than the Willow, affords

The Tulip Tree.

better shelter, and is more easily kept clean from weeds,
and is better in every respect for this pur])ose. By the
time that the coppice had been cut down the third time,
the Tulip Trees, having been kept carefully pruned of their
shoots, would have clear stems of a considerable length,
and would cause so much shade and drip, as to render the
coj)pice of little value for the future ; but now there would
be a icood amply to compensate you for the loss of the
coppice.

532. I must mention here, that which I omitted in for-
mer articles, where I spoke of this method of planting a
mixture of timber trees and underwoods ; and that is, that
you must, when you have cut your coppice, carry off the
produce on the backs of men, and not suffer wagons or
carts to go into the plantation for that purpose. Carters
have no more mercy on young trees than they have on flint
stones, and never appear to think them of more value. I
have seen, in the clearing of a coppice, thickly set with
young Oaks that had come up from the acorn, more than
a hundred of those Oaks trampled down by the horses, run
over by the wheels, broken off, or torn in their bark, during
the loading and carrying oft^ of one single load of worth-
less brush-wood, of so little value as for the bundles of
it to be sold at five or six shillings the hundred ; and this is
the general practice throughout the whole country, as far
as my observation has gone. The produce of the coppice
is put up in heaps here and there, and the wagon, which in
this case is one* of the most complete instruments of destruc-
tion that ever was invented by man, goes about, first in one
direction, then in another, destroying as it goes, and leaving
behind it, where there is a thick plant of young Oaks and
Ashes, ten times as much mischief as the produce of its
loads brings good to the owner of the coppices. Even

u2

The Tulip Tree.

where there are no young trees to destroy, the carting does
incalculable injury to the underwood itself. To be sure, it
ought to be done, and it generally is done before the stems
of the underwood begin to throw out their new shoots.
Nevertheless, the wheels of the wagon and the feet of the
liorses, do very great injury to those stems. They wound
and bruise them; they batter them about in such a way as
frequently to cause them to die, and as always to weaken
the growth of their shoots. The wagon, in a coppice of
eight or ten acres, will make, perhaps, not less than fifty,
and, more likely, a hundred turnings or half- turnings, if a
wheel come in contact Avith a stem in such turn, it half
grubs it up ; or, at the very least, it destroys half its powers
of future production; but where there are young trees
left standing in the coppice intended to become timber, the
havoc is absolutely frightful. Very careful people have the
produce of their copj)ices backed out, as it is called in the
country ; but few persons calculate the loss of the future,
when a trifling saving is presented to them for the present.

533. But, if a coppice be large, and of a scjuare, or nearly
of a square form, it is very tedious and expensive to carry
all its produce to the outsides on the back ; that produce
being very bulky and heavy. Therefore, if the coppice or
j)lantation be large, and not very long and narrow, so as to
make the distance to the outsides of it short, there ought
to be a road made in the coppice ; and but one road, by any
means. This road should wind about with gentle turnings;
turnings so gentle as to leave the carter no possible excuse
for running over the young trees, or over the stems of the
coppice wood. This road might so wind about, according
to the shape or extent of the coppice, as to leave no where
any very great distance for the stuff to be carried on backs.
The road might come out and end where it began ; and

The Tulip Tree.

though it would, perhaps, occupy a twentieth part of the
ground of the coppice, it would be attended with gain,
even if it occupied a fifth or a sixth partj for the trees
would cover the road with their branches, and they might
stand closer on the edge of the road, than generally through-
out the coppice. During the ten years, or thereabouts,
and every successive ten years between the cuttings of the
coppice, a good produce of rough grass might be cut in
the road, yielding not so much profit as so much of the
coppice land to be sure, but yielding something at any rate,
while the advantage of such roads for the purposes of sport-
ing would be too obvious to need a particular description.
While the coppice stuff" remained low, here and there a bit
of the road might be ploughed up and sowed with grain,
particularly with buck wheat, which the hares and rabbits
do not touch, for the entertainment of the pheasants ; a
thing by no means to be left out of our consideration, since
pheasants there will be, and men there will be who delight
in the preserving of pheasants. To be sure, the poachers
would be aware of these resorts, as well as the ownei's of
the coppice j but they are aware of all the resorts already :
and besides, pheasants are by them destroyed in the night,
and they do not roost in the roads.

534. To return to the Tulip Trees : tliey are not apt to
throw out stout side-shoots, unless raised from layers; and
in the woods of America they have clear trunks, without
any pmning at all ; but it is better to cut off the lower
side-shoots than to sufl'er them to die off"; and therefore
that should be done in the manner directed for the Beech,
in the latter part of paragraph 149.

535. The Tulip Tree ought, like other deciduous trees,
to be cut down in the winter, when it is fit for timber j and

The Tulip Tree.

its stool and roots ought to be completely grabbed up, to
make room for the planting of something, or the planting
of other Tulip Trees ; for, though it will send shoots enough
out of the stool, those shoots never become trees, and are of
very little use.

536. If Tulip Trees be intended for clumps, for avenues,
or for independent trees, they must be fenced, and, in all
respects, treated in the manner so fully described in the case
of the Plane, to which the reader will now please to refer.

537. I cannot conclude this article without expressing
my hope that some gentlemen in England will be induced
toplantand to propagate this tree, not only for ornament, but
for the sake of the timber, and, consequently, upon a con-
siderable scale. The means are not at all expensive. The
seeds are easily obtained in the States of New York, New
Jersey, and Pennsylvania; they are as dry as so much
chaff; they may be kept, if in a dry place, for almost any
length of time, so as to suit the convenience of sowing j
and, that they are easily raised from the seed I have
proved, having sold several thousands of the plants this
year. But, if a man will not write a letter upon the sub-
ject ; if he will not take the pains to have the seed brought
over ; if he will not, with his own eyes, see the seed sown,
and the plants, and the planting, and the pruning attended
to ; if he will not do these things, he cannot have the
trees, for, as to purchasing them of those who raise the
trees from layers, each plant, to say nothing of its being a
mere branch of a tree, will cost him five shillings, or half-a-
crown at the least; when a couple of dollars worth of seed from
Pennsylvania or New York, would give him from ten to
twenty thousand plants. If he will insist upon believing
his gardener, who will have no scruple to tell him, that

The Tul[p Tree.

plants will no more come from those bits of dry, rubbishy
bark than they would come outofsaw-diist, and that he will
be " bound to eat all the timber that ever comes out of
them ;" if he will persist in believing this, as I might have
done if I had listened to a botanist of this description ; if
he M'ill be guided by his servant and not by his senses, he
cannot have the trees, that is all. Every gardener thinks
that every one who employs him, is, as far as relates to
gardening, a natural-born fool. He will allow him to be,
and indeed he will boast of his being, the greatest of
orators, the greatest of generals, the most valiant of admi-
rals, the most profoundly wise of lawgivers, the most
heavenly of all heaven-born ministers, the most pious and
learned of bishops, the most learned of all learned lawyers,
and, if a physician, capable, almost, of raising the dead to
life ; but that, in matters of gardening, he will insist that
he is essentially a fool, and that he does not know, and
ought not to know, any more about the raising of a tree,
than he, the gardener, knows of any of the learned pro-
fessions, a profound knowledge in which he is ready
(with or without cause) to ascribe to his master. One
of the consequences of this way of thinking is, that gar-
deners, if the master be of a character that makes it perilous
to flatly contradict him, hear, with very little interruption,
all that he has to say, and all that he relates to them as
having been said by others. They receive his directions
very quietly, then go away, and pay no more attention to
them than to the whistling of the winds j and as to hooks
that may be put into their hands, if not written by a pro-
fessed gardener by trade, they would laugh at the idea of
any one supposing it possible that they can contain any
thing worth looking at. If, therefore, those who wish to
have Tulip Trees will not look to the sowing and to the
subsequent work with theii" own eyes, their best way is to
content themselves with the wish, and leave the grati-

The Tupelo.

ficatloii to those who will insist upon the thing being done,
and who will see it done themselves ; and no great matter
either, for, perhaps, it would not take up one week altoge-
ther, from the beginning to the end, to superintend the whole
of the M'ork of a considerable plantation, from the sowing
of the seed to the final planting out; which I think I am
warranted in saying, when / have been able to spare the time
to see the thing frequently done as far as the raising of the
plants.

THS TU7X:X.O.

In Latin, Tupelo ; in French, Tupelo.

533. The botanical characters are: — Calyx tubular, superior; stamina
inserted at the commencement of the tube ; ovarium inferior ; one stigmated
style generally single ; capsul or berry containing a single seed.

539. This tree seems to have been wholly unknown to
Miller. Michaux gave it the botanical name of Nyssa;
but it appears from him, that Linn^.us never inserted it in
his catalogue. There are three varieties of the Tupelo;
one is called simply the Tupelo, another the Sour Tupelo
{Nyssa Capiiata), the third is called the Large Tupelo
{Nyssa Grandidentata). The two former are small trees
compared to the last, which attains the height of seventy
or eighty feet, with a trunk from a yard to four feet round
at five feet from the earth.

540. The wood of this tree is not of such value as to
induce me to recommend it to be planted for profit. It
appears from Michaux, as well as from what I have seen
and heard cf it myself, to be of very little value ; but, in
its form and its foliage, it is a singularly beautiful tree, and
grows very fast. I have some plants now at Kensington
more than a foot liigh, though sown only in April last.

The TuptLo.

541. The SEED of this tree is a berry in the shape of
an egg, and of about the size of a small filbert. There is
a pulp on the outside ; then comes a ribbed shellj and
within that shell a kernel. I have received the seeds from
America packed, or rather put into a barrel, mixed with
dry sand. There is very great difficulty in obtaining the
seeds, which arrive in the winter, and are sown in the spring.
The plants come up very boldly early in June ; they are
two or three inches high in a very short time, and have
oblong seed leaves, which are more than an inch long. In
October they are very fine plants, and in November, or in
the ensuing month of March or April, they ought to be
put into the nursery, in the manner directed for the Ash.
A year is long enough for them to stand in the nurserv,
and they may then go to their final situation. In clumps,
in independent trees, in lofty ornamental plantations, in
avenues, the Large Tupelo would form a beautiful variety
with the Planes, the Limes, the Tulip Trees, and other
trees of ornament. The leaf is, as I said before, singularly
beautiful, as is the bark of the tree, and particularly the
bark of the twigs.

542. As to the pruning, the cultivating of the ground,
and other parts of the management, they may all be the
same as has been directed in the case of the Tulip Tree.
The rootof the Tupelo is bushy, and causes the plant to be
removed without risk. With regard to the cutting down
of the j)iant the year after it is planted out, I look upon the
Tupelo as being entitled to just the same observations that
I have made with regard to the Tulip Tree.

543. The other two Tupelos are inferior in height and
size to the great Tupelo. The common Tupelo rarely
exceeds forty feet in height, and the Sour Tupelo does not
rise quite so high ; but they are both of them trees of great

The Walnut Tree.

beauty, and particularly the Sour Tupelo, the leaves of
which are from five to !?ix Inches long, are of a pale green
at top, and whitish on the under side. The wood of the
common Tupelo is highly esteemed for some few purposes,
on account of its inaptitude to split. For this reason
wooden bowls are sometimes made of it; various other
thing's are made out of the wood, where it happens to be
found in abundance, and to stand in the way of the farmer ;
but this is upon a very limited scale, and I regard these trees
solely as trees of ornament.

THIS WAliZrVT.

In Latin, Jiiglans ; in French, Noisetier.

544. The botanical characters are the same, in all respects, as those of the
HiCKoRV, which see in paragraph 292.

545. The English Walnut-Trbe is too well known to
need a particular description here ; but there are two dis-
tinct varieties of the American Walnut, and both of them
good as Timber Trees. I shall first speak of the man-
ner of raising Walnut Trees generally, and then give an
account of those of America.

546. There are several different varieties of our English,
or European, Walnut, which the botanists call Juglans
Regia. These varieties, however, are distinguished only
by the different size of the fruit, its different thickness of
shell, and by the different qualities of the fruit. In out-
ward appearances all the varieties are alike ; and there is
no difference, that I know of, in the wood of any of them.

547. The Walnut-Tree is raised from the seed, and only
from the seed. The Walnuts, when ripe, and ascertained
to be sound, which may be done by putting them into

The Walnut Tree.

water, in the manner directed for the Beech, in paragraph
145, should be made perfectly dry, and then preserved in
dry sand, in the manner directed for the Beech, in paragraph
145. They may be kept in this state until the month of
March or April, when they must be sowed in beds formed in
just the same manner as the beds are formed for the sowing
of the Ash, to Avhich I have so frequently referred that the
reader will, by this time, remember the directions per-
fectly well, I hope, without reference to the particular
paragraph.

548. But, as to the depths that is different in this case ;
for the Walnuts are large things and require comparatively
a deep covering. They should be scattered upon the beds
rather thinly ; and that being done, they should be patted
down well into the ground with the back of the spade ; for,
otherwise, heavy rains will lay them bare before they have
struck root; or they will be moved by worms, which is
pretty nearly as bad. Rooks and jackdaws will hook them
out of the ground if they perceive them ; and if they have
begun to open, they will split them with their beaks, and
then peck out the kernel. I have seen them do this
several times with my American Walnuts, which are
much harder, and more closely put together, than the Wal-
nuts of this country. Therefore, they should be fixed as
firmly in the ground as possible, before the earth be laid on
them, and they should not be sowed too near to the edge of
the beds, for fear of washing out by the rains.

549. When they are well and firmly placed upon the
beds, they should be covered with earth pretty nearly three
inches deep, and the earth should be made very fine, level,
and smooth. They will come up very boldly in the month of
June, they ought to be kept constantly clear of weeds dur-

The Walnut Tree.

ing the summer ; and if well managed they will be a foot
and a half high in the month of October, that is to say the
American Walnuts will, but the English Walnuts will
not be so high. They would be very little higher if sowed
in the fall, instead of the spring ; and they might be raked
out of the ground, by various vermin, and particularly by
mice ; the moles also might annoy them ; and the worms,
together with the beatings of the rain and the heavings of
the frost, would render success much more doubtful, than
if the sowing took place in the spring.

550. The seedling Walnut has a long big tap-root, of
softish texture, and has few fibres attached to it, and those
few not of any considerable length. It is a tree therefore,
that is never to be moved without care. The American
Walnuts have larger and longer tap-roots than the
English Walnut. When the seedlings are removed from
the seed-bed to the nursery, which they should be in the
month of November, or March or April, the tap-root should
be cut off to about eight inches in length 3 and the plants,
having been first sorted or sized, should be put into the
nursery in the manner directed for the Ash, but with
greater care. The earth should be made very fine about
the root, which should be very firmly fixed in the ground
by hand and foot, and, if the weather be dry at the time of
performing this work, it would be good to give the plants
a good watering in a couple of days after they have been
planted out, taking care to let the ground be thoroughly
dry upon the top before you water.

551. These trees ought to stand in the nursery two years,
because, they will require that time to get good root and
to fit them for their final removal. When they are finally
removed, you will find many side-roots to have come out

The Walnut Tree.

of the part of the tap which you left when you put the
plants in the nursery. These roots must be pruned in the
manner directed for those of the Ash, and the planting out
must take place with all the precautions so strongly recom-
mended in the removal of tap-rooted or evergreen trees.

552. People do not make icoods of English Walnut
trees ; but, when I have described the uses of the Ameri-
can Walnut wood, the rapidity of the growth of the trees,
and the facility of obtaining the seed, I think it will want
little to convince an English planter, that wood of this sort
of tree, is a subject very well worthy of attention. Our
Walnut Tree seldom has a clear trunk of any considerable
length, and it is the same with the American Walnut;
but, these trees throw out great limbs at about ten or
fifteen feet from the ground, and spread over a large piece
of ground. The American Walnuts are two in number j
one is called the Black WaLnut {Juglans Nigra) ; and
the other the Butter-Nut {Juglans Cathartica). The seed
of the first comes in a large round green shell, which
contains a large round Walnut very deeply furrowed.
The Butter-Nut comes in a green shell, in the shape
of an Ggg, and about the size of a small common hen's
egg ; and it contains a Walnut of nearly the same shape,
but sharply pointed at the small end, and still more deeply
furrowed than the former.

553. The Black Walnut is, however, the finest tree,
and is one of the finest trees in size, in height, in spread
ofhead, andin leaf both of quantity and shape, that there is
to be found in the world. Our English Walnut wood is
very brittle stuff, and serves for very few purposes, that of
making gun stocks being the principal. Some articles of
furniture were formerly made of itj but it is never used

The Walnut Tree.

now for that purpose, and never was fit for it. The Black
Walnut of America is famous for its timber, and also for
its immense size; and for the soundness and durability of
its wood. I have frequently seen this tree sixty or seventy
feet high, and so \a,Yge round the trunk, that I should be
afraid to say how large, if MichAux had not told us, that it
is by no means rare to see them six or seven feet in diame-
ter, at several feet from the ground. There is now at New
York a part of a Black Walnut Tree trunk, which had
been scooped out, and was used as a har-room, and after-
wards as a grocer's shop, having a door and two windows
in it. A little pamphlet published at New York, where
this trunk is now exhibited, as serving for a parlour or
dining-room, states the trunk to have been thirty-six feet
round at the base ; and of course twelve feet through ;
it states, that the height of the tree previous to branching
was very great, and that the height to the tops of the
branches was one hundred and twenty feet, and that the
spi'ead of the brandies was in proportion to the height. It
further adds, that had the tree been sawed into inch boards
at a saw mill, it would have yielded fifty thousand feet of
board, worth, at the wholesale price, one thousand five
hundred dollars, or about 350Z. sterling.

554. This however must be regarded as a singular in-
stance of grandeur ; but it is quite common, even in the
light lands of Long Island, to see this tree of immense size
in the trunk, lofty in proportion, and extending its branches
to a distance that strikes the beholder with wonder. Shade
is a valuable thing in a hot country ; and one of these trees
very frequently forms a complete shade to a house and
other buildings of a considerable size.

555. But it is for its timber, after all, that this fine tree

The Walnut Tree

is so valuable as it is universally esteemed to be. The
wood, after a short exposure to the air, assumes a dark
shade, and in time becomes darker than the oldest and
darkest mahogany; and hence, certainly, it has derived
the name of Black Walnut. This wood remains sound
during a great length of time, even if exposed to the
influence of heat and moisture. The proof of its great
durability is, that farmers frequently use it for -posts in the
fences that surround their fields. It is very strong and very
tenacious ; when thoroughly seasoned not liable to warp or
split, and its grain is sufficiently fine and compact to admit
of a beautiful polish, to which advantage it adds that of re-
maining always secure from worms. The timber is used
in the building of houses, in the making of gun stocks, and
in the making of naves for wheels. Michaux says that this
tree is excellently adapted to certain uses in naval architec-
ture j that it affords, not only an abundance of knees, which
are so much wanted in ship building ; but, that, it enters
into the frame of the ship also. He says, that it is not
attacked by sea worms in warm latitudes, as the Oak is ;
he says that he has seen canoes of it, scooped out of a single
trunk more than forty feet long. In comparing it with the
European Walnut, he says, that the wood of the Black
Walnut is more compact, heavier, and much stronger ;
that it is susceptible of a finer polish, and that, it is not, like
the European Walnut, liable to be injured by wornis. He
adds one indubitable proof of the high esteem in which the
wood is held in the native country of the tree ; namely,
that it has been spared hy the farmers in America; and spare
it, they would not, if they wanted the fire-wood that it
contained, or the land that it grew on, unless they regarded
the wood as of extraordinary value.

556. As to the quickness of growth, as compared with

The Walnut Trek.

that of our tree, I have seen instances enough to convince
me that it will come to timber in half the time, and Michaux
says that the two sorts having been planted at the same
time and in the same soil, the Black Walnut has been
observed to shoot more vigorously, and to grow in a given
time to a greater height. On every account as a timber
tree, this Walnut is far superior to the European, and it
is not of fruit we are here talking.

557. The Butter-Nut takes its vulgar name from the cir-
cumstance, that the nut yields an oily matter, which soon
becomes ^'rancid," and that is obtained by the Indians, by
pounding and boiling the nuts, and taking off the oily sub-
stance which swims upon the surface, and "mixing it with
their food !" These people must be nearly upon a level
with the Cossacks in point of delicacy of taste at the table.
To be sure, to give the name of Butter- Nut to a thing which
produces a substance, the very smell of which is enough to
drive people of common nerves out of the house; this is, to
be sure, a monstrous misnomer; but names do a great deal
in this world ; and I have really seen a great many people,
that seemed to lick their lips at the hearing of the name of
the Butter- Nut pronounced. The Black Walnut will yield
to nothing but a very stout and heavy hammer ; and when
you have got the kernel out, it is so oily and so " rancid,"
that to eat half a dozen is sufficient to make any common
person sick.

558. It is not therefore trees to bear food that I am talking
of; and the Butter-Nut, except for the sake of variety as
an ornamental tree, is not worthy of any great degree of
attention : the tree is inferior in point of size, is slower of
growth, and its wood is in quality vastly inferior ; though
it also possesses the quality of long duration, and of being

The \A^alnut Tree.

free from the annoyance of worms ; and is, therefore, fre-
quently made use of as sleepers, which are placed immedi-
ately on the ground, in the framing of houses and barns ;
and its long resistance of alternate heat and moisture
causes it to be esteemed for the posts and rails of rural
fences, which is a certain proof of its possessing the quality
of durability.

559. As, however, all its good qualities are to be found
in the Black Walnut, with none of its bad ones, the latter
is the tree which we ought to cultivate. Of the manner
of that cultivation I have spoken above ; and it now remains
for me to offer my opinion with regard to the distances at
which these trees ought to be planted, when intended to
become a wood for the producing of timber.

560. From what has been said about the prodigious
spread of the head of this tree, it would be nonsense to
think of planting them at less than thirty feet apart, with
an intention of their standing to become large trees ; for,
supposing the branches to extend only fifteen feet from the
tree in every direction, the heads of the trees would then
meet, and a Black Walnut tree will extend its branches
much more widely than this.

561. If planted, therefore, in rows thirty feet apart, and
at thirty feet apart in the rows themselves, there would be
room for six plants of Hazel or of Birch between each
two W^ALNUT Trees along the Walnut Tree rows, and for
six rows of either Hazel or Birch, at four or five feet
apart, between each two of the Walnut Tree rows. The
coppice would go on in just the same manner as described
in the case of the Tulip tree ; and the Walnut Trees would
go on rising by degrees; till the coppice were totally sub-

X

The Walnut Tree.

diied by the shade, and until there were a beautifurwood to
supply its place, as an object of profit.

562. No tree when cut down after being planted, throws
out a stronger and more vigorous shoot than the Black Wal-
nut ; but this tree should not be cut down until the second
year after being planted, because its root is rather shy, and
does not become strong enough to send up a firm and long
and vigorous shoot, when that root has stood only one year
in the ground. These trees, therefore, should be cut down
the second year after planting. Great care should be taken
that none but one shoot be left to go up, and the pruning
of the stem, to make that one shoot cover the cut at the
bottom, should be even more carefully attended to than in
the case of the Tulip tree.

363. This tree, as was before observed, is prone to throw
out large side-shoots, when young ; and, of course, to have
great limbs at no very great distance from the ground. In
a wood, it would be desirable to prevent this spreading too
soon, and great care ought to be taken to prune off the bot-
tom side-shoots in time, with a sharp knife and a close and
smooth cut; and to continue to do this as the tree mounts,
until you have got a trunk of the length you wish to have.

564. If the trees be intended to produce knees, then they
may be suffered to spread much earlier. As independent
trees, or three or four together standing in a clump, or in
lines to form an avenue, you might have them according to
your taste, with long trunks or short trunks; but the best
taste, probably, would be to prune them up with a straight
trunk to about forty feet high, or then let their heads
spread till they meet. The avenue ought not to be less than
forty feet wide, and at this distance from each other the

The Walnut Tree.

trees would form a roof over it, perfectly completed before
they were sixty feet high.

565. Of all the trees that I know any thing of, nothing
equals the Black Walnut as a single tree. Its spread is
immense. If pruned up to about ten or fifteen feet high,
and then left to take its own course, its great spread, its
load of fine leaves, the shade that it gives, its erect and
bold attitude, and its defiance of the winds, make it one of
the noblest objects that the eyes of man can behold. When
near to houses, it, in times of great heat, serves the family as
a place to sit under during the intolerable ardour of the sun.
The shade is so complete, and the lower branches, which
are rather pendulous, reach so near to the ground with
their points, that you are here sitting, not only completely
out of the sun, and without a hot roof over you, but you
have, at the same time, the advantage of eveiy breath of
air that is stirring.

566. 1 remember, with feelings of singular delight, that,
on the 11th of July, 1818, when the thermometer of Faren-
HEiT was standing at more than a hundred degrees, I,
sitting under the shade of a Black Walnut tree, wrote
that letter (addressed to Mr. Tierney), which ought to
have warned Mr. Peel and the Parliament of the great
dangers of passing that Bill (for restoring cash payments
without concomitants), which, however, they did, neverthe-
less pass, in a year and a few days after that time; and
which Bill has caused, is now causing, and will still cause,
calamities to this country, the extent of which no tongue
nor pen can describe,

567. Thus I conclude my observations, with regard to
this magnificent and useful tree, which 1 cannot take my

x2

The Willow.

leave of, without expressing my hope that I shall live to see
many persons making plantations of it in England.

THE W£Z.XiOW.

In Latin Salix ; in French Saule.

568. The botanical characters are : — It has male and female flowers on
separate plants ; the male flowers are disposed in one common oblong im-
bricated katkin. The scales have each one oblong spreading flower, which
has no petal, but a cylindrical nectarious gland in the centre. It has two
slender erect stamina, terminated by twin summits having four cells. The
female flowers are disposed in kalkins like the male ; these have neither
petals nor stamina, but an oval narrowed germen, scarcely distinguishable
from the style, crowned by two bifid erect stigmas. The germen afterwards
becomes an awl-shaped capsule, with one cell opening with two valves, con-
taining many small oval seeds crowned with hairy down.

569. This tree is so common in England, and there are
so many sorts of Willow, that to enter into a minute de-
scription of each would be quite useless to any reader, and
would take up more room and more time than any one but
a mere Botanist would deem the subject worthy of. Miller
has fourteen species of Willow, and Mjchaux has two:
but as the mode of propagating, rearing, cultivating, and
generally the mode of cutting down all the sorts is the same,
one set of directions will, with few exceptions, serve for
the whole.

570. Willows may, if we please, of almost all the sorts,
become considerable trees 3 trees of a large trunk and
great height. The wood of some of the Willows is not
bad, even as timber 5 but the general purposes to which the
Willow is applied, cause it to be regarded only as un-

The Willow.

derwood. There are two purposes to which it is applied,
of a very distinct character : one, the making of hop-poles,
hoops, hurdles, and tool-handles; the other, the making of
baskets and wicker-work of various descriptions. Those
Willows which are applied to the former purpose are
planted in coppices; those which are applied to the latter
purpose, are planted in aquatic situations, which are gene-
rally.called Osier-beds. The former are cut every eight or
ten fyears, according to the growth of the stuff, which will
be in proportion in rapidity to the goodness of the ground;
the latter are cut every year, as soon as the leaf is off, and
as the shoots are perfectly ripe.

571. Willows are never raised from the seed, though
they all might be ; and though they would, if a large and
straight and lofty tree were wanted, be raised most pro-
perly in that way. The seed of the Willow, like that of
the Poplar, is borne in a katkin, which comes out early in
the spring, and which falls off from the tree, some of the
sorts earlier and some later, in May, or early in June. If the
katkins were then collected, laid in the sun until perfectly
dry, and then rubbed out and sowed in the same manner as
I have described, and as I have so successfully practised in
the case of the Birch, any number of trees might be raised
from the seed; and these trees properly transplanted and
managed, would become straight, clear-trunked, and lofty
trees; and this might, in some cases, be very desirable, for
some of the sorts are greatly ornamental, besides the Weep-
ing Willow, which is every where looked upon as an arti-
cle of ornament. There is one Willow, the bark of which
is of a light grey colour, which sends its katkins forth very
early in the spring. They are large, clothed with a thick
down, the outside of which is a bright yellow, after having
first been white ; and, for the space of nearly a month, at

The Willow.

a season when there is scarcely any thing in vegetation to
glad the eye, this tree is a very beautiful object j and it
grows, too, in any ground, from a dry bank to a sour clay
or a bog.

572. I am, however, though reluctantly I must confess,
compelled to give up the expectation of ever seeing or
hearing of the Willow of any sort being raised in any other
way than from poles, stakes, truncheons, or cuttings ; and,
therefore, I shall now speak of the manner in which this is
usually done, first taking the Willows which are usually
planted in coppices.

573. When the ground is ready for the planting of the
coppice, you proceed in one of two ways ; planting by poles
or by truncheons. The distances at which Willows should
be planted, is in rows at five feet apart, and the plants at
five feet apart in the rows. If you propagate by poles, you
make lines across the piece of ground five feet apart, make
a trifling channel with a spade or hoe along the line, then
lay down Willow Poles in this channel, one following the
other, length-ways all along the line ; so that you now have
a line formed of poles. Then cover the poles over with
earth pretty thickly, except that you are to leave six or
eight inches of the poles exposed in every five feet. So
that now you have a little ridge of earth (not above an inch
or two high) going from one side of the piece of ground to
the other, wit|i six or eight inches of j)ole visible at every
five feet from each other. Then you make another line,
and proceed to lay down poles, and to cover them in the
same manner. This is the best, the surest, the quickest,
and, in the end, the cheapest way of getting a Willow
coppice.

The Willow.

5/4. Roots will come, or rather go, out of every part of
the pole into the ground, and shoots will come upwards
from those parts of the poles which are not covered. The
whole pole becomes a main root or set of roots, and the
little parts left uncovered become so many stems or stools,
which will produce a crop, and a pretty large one too,
several years sooner than you can get the first trifling crop
from the truncheons. This work should be done in
February or early in March, and as soon as convenient
after the poles are cut.

5/5. If you proceed by truncheons, that is to say, by
Willow cuttings an inch through or thereabouts, or per-
haps more, these should be about two feet long, and put
into the ground at the distances above-mentioned. Both
ends should be cut off smoothly with a sloping cut, and the
butt end, of course, put into the ground ; but not by thrust-
ing down by main force, but by making a hole with some-
thing else to the proper depth, and putting the truncheon
down into it, and then treading round it and fixing it well in
the ground, as you would a young tree, leaving about three
or four inches above the ground.

576. This \vork is also to be done in February or March.
Several shoots will come out of each plant the first summer,
but the whole of them except one should be taken off during
the next winter, in order to give stoutness to the stem or
trunk. During the next winter the stems are to be cut
down to the ground, and then be suffered to go on to
become a coppice. This is a poor way of doing the thing
compared to the other way, and here are two years lost into
the bargain ; but the great obstacle is the first cost : the
truncheons are worth little or nothing ; but the poles, espe-
cially in hop countries, are worth forty or fifty shillings the

The Willow.

hundred. There stands the hop-planter, holding out the
fifty shillings ; and this sight, this charming and tempting
sight, soon overpowers that philosophy, which teaches the
coppice-owner that he would gain the fifty shilhngs, ten
times told, perhaps, by using the poles in the making of a
new coppice. Nay (and this is a great deal worse) the
planter may have to buy the poles, while any neighbour
will give him the truncheons, and it certainly requires a
little less expense to put in the truncheons than to buy the
poles. Faith ! here is a great deal more than sutficient to
decide the question in favour of the truncheons, which thus
become living and gay tenants of the coppice, instead of
making their exit in the fiery furnace of a baker, or in the
still more ardent flaiTite of the lime-kiln.

577. However, I did once see a man that raised a coppice
from Willow Poles, and it was worth, acre for acre, and
at parallel age, four times as much as any other Willow
coppice that I ever saw in my life. It was next to impos-
sible to work one's way through it. It was about seven
years old; it was fit then to cut for hoops and hurdles;
and I believe it sold by auction, the next year, for thirty-
five pounds an acre, though the general run of coppices
did not fetch, at that age, more than seven or eight pounds
an acre; and, if I recollect rightly, the poles had been
laid only about fourteen or fifteen years. But the trun-
cheons could have been had for nothing, while these poles
must have been worth forty or fifty shillings a hundred.

578. These poles, however, need not be prime poles.
They ought to be stout, but need not be of great length ;
and, if a little crooked, it is of no great consequence. By
lowering the earth in certain places, raising it in others,
and with the use of pegs to fasten down the ends of

The Willow,

tlieni, poles not of the straightest description may do very
well.

5/9. There are several sorts of Willows, that grow pro-
miscuously in the coppices. To give to these their botanical
description would be perfectly useless ; but there are two
sorts, which prevail greatly over all the rest, in the estima-
tion of woodmen, and which indeed are the sorts that thrive
best, and produce the greatest quantities of hoops and
poles. They very much resemble each other in outward
appearance, whether as to leaf, bark, and every other cir-
cumstance, but which have a clear distinction in the colour
of the wood j one having a I'ed heart, and the other being
white all the way through. The Wh .:e-heart£D Willow
is good for very little as a hop-pole, while the Red-
hearted Willow will last nearly as long as the Ash. The
difference in the qualities holds good in the making of
hoops, hurdles, rods, and every thing else to which the
wood of the dry land Willows is applied.

580. The Willow, like other coppices, is cut in the
winter, and the stuff converted to its various uses as quickly
as possible. The coppice ought to be cleared by the be-
ginning of March, and ought not to be begun to be cut
until the whole of the leaf be completely off. If you begin
cutting too soon, you injure both the crop and the stools;
seeing that the sap has not wholly descended from the
former, and seeing that the latter will bleed, and be thus
deprived of parts of its powers of reproduction.

581. Under the head of Tulip Tree, I have said enough
about the horrible consequences of clearing coppices by
the means of wagons and carts, and I beg to be understood
as repeating here all that I there said on the subject j

The Willow.

for it never can be too firmly fixed in the mind of the
reader.

582. I have now to speak of aquatic Willows. All Willows
will grow in watery places, but all Willows will not pro-
duce rods and twigs wherewith to make baskets and wicker-
work, for some of them are as brittle as any other tree
that I know any thing of. The Willow which is generally
planted in watery places to produce rods which are called
osiers, has a very long and pointed leaf, and a yellowish-
coloured bark on the young shoots ; and this is the reason,
I suppose, for this and some other Willows being called
Sallows. There is another sort, with a broader leaf, and
of a whitish hue in both leaf and bark of the young
shoot, which grows faster than the former one, but it is
coarser, and not so very pliant; but it is probably fitter than
the former for large wicker-work.

583. These things are planted, very frequently, almost in
the water ; and they will not thrive well, or at least will
not be productive for the purposes before-mentioned, unless
the situation be very wet. Generally they are in water in
flood times ; and half in water, that is to say, half the roots
are in water at all times. The crop here is like a crop of
grass, it comes every year. The rods are cut off close to
the stem after the leaf has fallen and the wood has become
ripened. The produce is tied up in bundles, and afterwards
carried away to be sold to basket-makers and other persons
who make wicker-work. This is a most useful plant ; the
produce is very great ; and the good of the thing is, that
any mere swamp is a good place to have the plantation in,
unless, however, observe, the sea-water, or salt water, or
water strongly impregnated with the sea- salt, have access
to the swamp, for, let it be observed, that no tree will live

The Willow.

for any length of time in soil into which salt water can
come.

584. The manner of planting osier beds, as they are
generally called, is this : — You take stout rods, which are
cut for the making of baskets, and cut off the butt-ends of
them. These butt-ends you plant in rows at four feet apart,
and at two feet or a foot and a half in the row. Do not
thrust these cuttings down into the ground, but make a
hole to receive them f for, by thrusting down the cuttings,
you run the risk of stripping up the bark from the butt of
the cutting ; and it is the bark, and not the wood, out of
which the roots are to grow.

585. If the situation be such that there are occasional
overflowings from a river or brook, the cuttings which
ought to be about three feet long, and two feet of which
ought to be put into the ground ; these cuttings ought, in
such case, to be put in in a direction sloping towards the
river or brook, which would tend to prevent them from
retaining dead weeds, and grass, and leaves, which the
water would cause to swim upon the surface. If the situ-
ation be flat, and not liable to such inundations, it is better
to put the cuttings into the ground perpendicularly.

586. Several shoots will come out of each cutting the
first year. The main shoot should be suffered to go up,
but all the rest should be cut off during the next winter.
By the winter after, there would be a stout stem with seve-
ral shoots upon it. The shoots should be all cut off then ;
and after that, the stem itself should be cut down to within
about three or four inches from the ground; not quite so
low, perhaps, in situations that are veiy wet. After this, the
crop becomes annual and regular. By frequent cuttings off

The Willow.

of the shoots or twigs, there comes a sort of head to the
stem, and, in some cases, this head gets to be a foot over;
and as shoots come from almost every part of it, the annual
produce is prodigious. The grass and weeds will, in such
situations, rival the shoots in growth; and they ought to be
cut off about Midsummer, tied up in bundles, and carried
out of the osier-bed. The produce would probably pay for
the labour; and they do a great deal of harm to the shoots,
by keeping the lower parts of the large ones from the sun,
and by greatly diminishing the length and even the number
of the small ones.

587. To have Willow Trees on the banks of rivers or
brooks, the usual way is to put in stakes, from six to twelve
feet long, and from three to five inches through at the
bottom. Such stake, or rather pole, is put in in the month
of February, or early in March, as soon as convenient
after it has been cut. The bottom of the stake or pole
should be cut off with a sloping cut, very smoothly, leaving
no ragged parts either in wood or bark; for these die and
prevent the root from being sound. The point of the stake
or pole should be cut off in the same manner. The stake
or pole should be put into the ground by the means of an
iron bar, or some pointed thing sufficiently large to make
a hole suited to the bigness of the butt of the stake or pole.
Then the ground should be well fastened round the butt.
The stake or pole will strike root immediately, and all the
part which is above ground will send o\it shoots during the
summer.

588. As you wish to have something of a clear trunk, you
must prune off the side-shoots to the height at which you
wish the head to begin. The head will then go on growing
and spreading. If thje tree be of the Sallow kind, you will.

The Willow.

of course, cut off the produce every year for the purposes of
wicker-work J but if the tree be of any of the other kinds,
the produce will befit for little else than fuel; but this pro-
duce is very large, and a crop is yielded of good stout fire-
wood about every six years; and, as Willows do little
harm in meadows, and perhaps, no harm at all, the edges
of rivers, brooks, and deep ditches, always ought to be well
garnished with them.

589. There is one sort of Willow, never seen in coppices
or meadows ; but very well known to nurserymen and
gardeners under the name of the Yellow Willow, a name
exactly descriptive of the colour of the bark in every part of
the tree. It throws out a great abundance of slender twigs,
and these twigs, in summer as well as in winter, are as
tough, as pliant, and as strong for any temporary purpose
as any piece of common string or cord of the same thick-
ness. You may take one of these twigs, tie a bundle up
with it, and finish by making a bow, in the same manner
as with tape, or with packing-thread. For this reason,
there is no nursery, and scarcely any considerable garden,
without one or two trees of this kind standing in some
comer of the ground, for the purpose of affording a con-
stant supply of twigs.

590. There remains only to speak of the Wkeping Wil-
low. It is the only Willow planted for ornament, and which
is, indeed, good for very little else ; but as an ornamental
tree it is surpassed by very few, adding to its fine colour
and elegant disposition of its branches, the pleasing cir-
cumstance of coming out in leaf amongst the very earliest
of the trees in spring, and retaining its leaf in the autumn
long after the leaves have all disappeared from the greater
part of deciduous trees. But, though this tree may be

The Willow.

raised, by stakes or poles, in the manner before-mentioned,
it can never be a fine and lofty tree if raised in that manner;
and it would be absurd to expect it. This tree would grow
to sixty feet high, if raised from the seed, and that it might
be, I am sure, in the manner which 1 have spoken of above;
but) if not raised from the seed, small cuttings at most
ought to form the foundation of a Weeping Willow tree.
These cuttings ought to be, like those of the osiers, from
the butts of shoots of the former year. They ought to be
put into a nursery to strike, putting about a foot of them
into the ground, and leaving not more than an inch out of
the ground. One shoot ought to be suffered to go up the
first year. There ought to be careful prunings of the stub
at the bottom; and, in the next spring or fall, the tree
ought to be taken up, its roots pruned, and then it ought
to be carefully planted upon the spot where it is intended
to abide. Here it might be cut down again the first year
after the planting, and a single shoot suffered again to go
up ; but this shoot would be so long and so slender in the
upper part of it, that, if left at ftiU length, the tree would
become a curved thing at once. Therefore, it ought the
next year to be cut down, within two feet of the point
where it was cut down before, and another single shoot
suffered to come out and to go on, as near to the last cut
as possible; and thus you ought to proceed till you have got
a tnink of the length that you wish to have it. Then the
head may be suffered to spread away from the straight
trunk in every direction. The side-shoots being kept con-
stantly pruned off, all the little crooks made by the several
cuttings would soon grow out, and would leave no trace
of there ever having been any : the trunk would be straight
and smooth from one end to the other.

591. From all that has been said upon the subject of the

The Willow.

Willow, it is evident that it surpasses every thing else in
value in watery situations; and it does not much care
whether the water be running or stagnant. Any little dell
that is kept constantly wet by the oosings out from the
sides of a hill, is admirably adapted for any of the Willows,
and the crop which they produce is prodigious. As dry
coppices, they are very good, and produce a greater crop
of hoops and rods than either the Birch, the Hazel, or the
Ash. I have seen one single red-hearted Willow stem, that
produced upwards of two hundred hoops, each rod being
split into two hoops. But there must be room for this,
and the Willow should not be planted in good ground at
distances less than rows at six feet apart, and plants at six
feet apart in the row; and, in such ground, the poles men-
tioned in the former part of this article should be laid in
rows, at six feet apart instead of five, and the lower parts,
for the shoots to come out of, should also be at six feet apart.
The quality of the Willow, for rods, hoops, and poles, is
inferior to the Hazel; but it is equal to the Birch ; and
the red-hearted Willow makes a much better pole than
the Birch. In very dry ground, the Willow does not
succeed. It makes short shoots in such ground, sends out
laterals instead of going up, and seldom produces much
besides fire-wood.

592. I cannot refrain from adding here, that I have now
(March, 1828) several Willows, which have been raised
jrom the seed, this year, in my garden. They get to be
four feet high the first summer.

THS VEW-

In Latin, Taxus ; in French, If.

593. The botanical characters are : — The male flowers are produced on
separate trees from the fruit for the most part ; they have neither empale-
ment nor petals; but the gem is like a four-leaved cover ; they have a great
number of stamina which are joined at the bottom in a column longer than
the gem, terminated by depressed summits, having obtuse borders and eight
points, opening on each side of their base, casting their farina. The female
flowers are like the male ; having no impalements or petals, but having aa
oval acute-poiuted germen, but no style, crowned by an obtuse stigma.
TTie germen afterwards becomes a berry lengthened from the receptacle,
globular at the top, and covered by a proper coat at bottom, open at the top,
full of juice, and of a red colour; but as it dries, wastes away, including
one oblong oval seed, the top of which, without the belly, is prominent.

594. " Tliough last not least", to use a saying that has
been more than worn out for these last five hundred years.
This is our native English Cedar. Its outward appear-
ances are well known to us all ; for, first or last, the most of
us have seen a church-yard, however few, comparatively,
may have been within the church, and there is scarcely a
church-yard in England that does not present a Yew tree
to the eyes of the beholder. The Yew tree sometimes
rises to the height of forty or fifty feet, and would go a
great deal higher if attention were paid in the pruning the
side-shoots as the tree increases in height. It is frequently
a very large tree. I have seen several, each of which has
been more than fifteen feet round the trunk ; and as I men-
tioned in a Rural Ride performed in the month of August,
1823, I measured the Yew Tree in the church-yard of the
village of Selborne, in Hampshire, which was, at some
distance from the ground, twenty-three feet and eight inches

The Yew.

in circumference. 1 had not the means of making a very
exact measurement ; but, my error could not be very great;
and this is a monstrous circumference.

595. The Yew Tree attains an age beyond the possi-
bility of human ascertainment, unless some national record
were kept of the matter. Its growth is slow ; but it ap-
pears never to lose any part of that which it gains. The
wood surpasses, very far indeed, all other English wood, in
point of durability, and of strength, and elasticity joined to
both these. It has a red heart, like the imperishable Red
Cedar of America ; but it is not odoriferous like the wood
of the Red Cedar ; and it is very heavy, while the Red
Cedar is very light. The wood never perishes, or, at least,
so say the country people. Gate-posts are sometimes
made of it, and they have never been known to rot. It is
very fine-grained and receives a very high polish. 1 have
seen a kitchen dresser made of it, which being kept in good
order, was ^s shining as any piece of furniture I ever saw.
It is super-excellent for making the bows of the backs of
wooden chairs ; for making ox-bows, and, it is said, the
bows, used by warriors formerly in this country, were made
of this wood. Even the slender shoots of it are as tough,
or tougher, than those of the Hickory ; and when they
happen to get any considerable length, they become whip-
handles, and other things, where great toughness and elas-
ticity are required. I made a mistake in the article relating
to the Elder, paragraph 222, where I should have said,
" An Elder stake and a Yew hether," instead of an Elder
stake and a Hazel hether, that would " make a hedge to
last for ever."

596. The Yew appears to grow pretty nearly equally
well upon all sort.- of land, shallow or deep, dry or wet ;

r

The Yew.

but it seems, from the frequency of our finding it on such
land, to have been formerly, at any rate, grown principally
upon chalky land. It resists all weather, stands uninjured
on the bleakest of hills, where even the scrubbiest of thorns
and underwood will hardly live. Big as the head of this
tree generally is in proportion to its trunk, most heavily
laden as it constantly is with leaf; forming as it does, such
a hold for the wind, neither head nor trunk ever flinches,
though in situations where it would be impossible to make
an Oak grow, and where no other large tree could be pre-
vented from being blown out of the ground.

597. The Yew is, or rather has been (for it is not much
the fashion now), used for making hedges, as screens in
and near gardens and round about houses, for which pur-
pose it is the best material that can possibly be conceived.
It is easily clipped into any form ; its twigs are delicate and
tough ; it can be shaved close down to the ground; and it
makes a fence or screen through which no wind can find
its way ; and being ever-green, it is very viiluable on this
account. People had more patience and diligence formerly
than they have now ; and, therefore, I have never heard of
the planting of a Yew hedge in the whole course of my life.
There are many, however, still remaining in England, but
these have all descended to us from our ancestors, who
lived in those dark ages, when men were foolish enough
to think that patience ought to be required in the acqui-
sition of things of great value, and that large estates ought
not to be acquired in a few years by merely " watching the
turn of the market." There is a hedge of this sort at
Petworth, in Sussex, which, if I recollect rightly, I judged
to be eleven feet wide, kept very closely and neatly clipped
all across the top, and on the sides, from the top to the bot-
tom. The bottom on one side of the hedge meets the top
of a wall which supports a bank against a road or street. I

The Yew.

was quite as* much delighted with this object, as I was with
the house and park of Lord Egremont, the gate that opens
to which, is not more than two hundred yards distance
from this Iiedge.

598. The SEEDS of the Yew ought to be gathered when
they are ripe, which is late in October, or early in Novem-
ber; and if they be sown immediately, in beds prepared
like those pointed out for the Ash, they will come up the
first year; but, perhaps, the better way would be, to pre-
serve them in the manner directed for the seeds of the
Hawthorn, in paragraph 2/3, and then to sow them in any
of the months between November and March, or in March
of the second year. The plants will come up in the month
of May, and then they are to be treated in precisely the same
manner as that pointed out for the treatment of the Red
Cedar. See paragraph I7I ; see also, and pay particular
attention to, paragraph 215 ; for unless you take the pre-
cautions there pointed out, you will fail in the raising of
Yew Trees.

599. If Yew Trees are to form hedges, they should be
planted in two rows, the rows at two feet apart, the plants
at two feet apart in the row, and the plants in one row
standing opposite the middle of the intervals of the plants
in the other row. The year after planting, they might be
cut down to within a foot of the ground, or lower; for the
Yew will throw out new shoots. Prominent branches
must be cut off, the lateral shoots trained along horizon-
tally, and the lower ones close to the ground. In a few
years, the trees in the two rows would interweave their
branches. The clipping with the shears should be begun
in a few years; and you may suffer the hedge to become
as wide and as high as you please, by always leaving

Thk Yem%

a small part of the new growth not taken off by the
shears.

600. As to the planting o{ woods of Yew Trees, few per-
sons would think of such a thing; but it might be very
conveniently and cheaply done, by raising the plants as
above-directed, and by making them form part of a cop-
pice, in precisely the same manner, and at the same dis-
tance, as directed for the Tulip Tree.

601. 1 have heard, and I believe, that Yew-leaves, or
boughs, if, when a little withered, eaten by cattle or sheep,
will Mil them, and nearly instantly. Doubtless there was
some old rule, relative to the poisonousness of the Yew, to
induce the witches, in Macbeth, to make its " slips " part
of the ingredients of their deadly cauldron. Horses,
horn -cattle, and sheep, should not, therefore, be put into
places where Yew trees, or hedges, have been recently
clipped or trimmed up.

THE J?ND.

INDEX.

The figures refer to the number of the paragra|>h.

Abele. See Poplar, 480
Acacia. See Loc u3t, 322

AliDER, 93

Ash, 102

Aspen. See Poplar, 482

Bass-Wood. See Lime, 321

Beech, 143

Birch, 152

Button-Wood. See Plane, 464

Butte R-NuT. See Walnut, 552

Cedar (Red), 167

Cedar 0\Tiite), 173

Cherry, 177

Chesnut, 190

Chesnut (Horse), 202

CoB-NuT. See Hazel, 281

Crab, 203

Cypress, 209

Dogwood, 216

Elder, 221

Elm, 227

Filbert. See Hazel, 281

Fir, 243

Gum-Tree, 265

Hawthorn, 271

Hazel, 280

Hickory, 292

Holly, 300

Hornbeam, 306

Iron-Wood. See Hornbeam.

Larch, 31 1

Lime, 314

Locust, 322

Locust (Honey), 393

Maple, 399

Mountain-Ash, 414

Nut. See Hazel, 281

Oak, 419

Pine. See Fir, 245

Persimon, 454

Plane, 461

Poplar, 478

Sassafras, 489

Spruce. See Fir, 260

Sycamore. See Maple, 400

Thorn (Black), 504

Thorn (White). SeeH.\WTH0RN,

271.
Tulip-Tree, 515
Tupelo, 538
Walnut, 544
Willow, 668
Yew, 593

AMERICAN TREE AND SHRUB SEEDS.

I now offer these Seeds for sale. I propose to put complete assort-
ments of the seeds up in boxes, and to sell each box for Five Pounds.
Tliere will be in the whole upwards of fifty different sorts of seeds of
Trees and Shrubs ; to which will be added about twenty sorts of Gar-
den Seeds. Amou^jst the tree seeds will be Walnuts, Hickory Nuts, seeds
of the Sassafras, of the Birch, of the Plane, of the Red Cedar, of the Maple,
of the Tulip, of the fVhite Elm, and amongst the shrubs, seeds of the Pinck-
neya (Georgia Bark), the C'omus Florida, the Kalmia Latifolia, the Kalmia
AnguUifoUa, the Spice tree, (laurus benzoin), the Magnolia Glauca, the
Magnolia Tripetula, the Magnolia Grandijiora. I have nienlioned the above,
also, as part of the trees and shrubs. I shall put into each box, two pounds
of fine American Locust Seed. These two pounds contain about twenty-four
thousand seeds ; and, if the instructions which I have given in the " AVood-
LANDS" be strictly adhered to, in the sowing of these seeds, almost every
seed will propuce a tree; and a tree too, fit to go into a plantation next au-
tumn.

Amongst the garden seeds, there will be several sorts of Squash or Vegeta-
ble Marrow seeds ; two sorts of Melon seeds, one at least of Cucumber seeds,
and a pint of three different sorts (a pint of each) of Kidney beans ; besides
which there will be three sorts of Onion seeds, and Asparagus seeds.

I forgot to mention one sort of seed, a small quantity of which is worth
more than the whole five pounds ; namely, the SEED of the SASSAFRAS,
which no man in England ever possesseil but myself. There is also the
Pinckneya or Georgia Bark, which never has been in England before, except
last year, when 1 sowed some of it, and reared a great number of plants.

There is some seed of the finest Beets in, such as produce roots far supe-
rior to any that I ever saw in England. There are several varieties of the
early Indian corn j some white and some yellow.

Now, that part of these seeds which I shall sow, I shall make grow ; and
any other person may do the same if he will, by referring to the instruc-
tions contained in the " WOODLANDS." I shall, into each box of seeds,
put a catalogue of its contents ; and opposite the name of any tree or
shrub mentioned in the Woodlands, I shall say, " See Woodlands." For
instance, opposite to the seed of the Birch, 1 shall say, " See the Wood-
lands, paragraph 153." Then, when I come to that rare plant, the Pinck-
neya, or Georgia Bark, or to the Kalmia, I shall say also, " See the Wood-
lands, paragraph 133;" because all these seeds are to be sown and ma-
naged just in the same way as is directed for the Birch, the proceedings in
the sowing of which, are the most curious that can possibly be conceived. If
I had never done any thing in my life but rendered it an easy matter to raise
the Birch from seed, which neither Miller nor any other gardener ever ac-
complished, I should deserve the thanks of every body who is fond of trees.
Till I made my experiments, with regard to the tender seeds of the Birch, 1
sowed not only that seed, but the seed of the Georgia Bark, the Kalmia
the AzAHA, the Rhodouendron, and many others, in vain. Having made
this discovery with regard to the Birch, there was no longer any difficulty
with regard to any of these, which, as experienced gardeners well know, are
never to be got from seed, but by mere luck.

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