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PART II.

REVIEWS.

ART. I. A Series of Facts, Hints, Observations, and Experiments on the different Modes of Raising, Pruning, and Training Young Trees in Plantations. By W. Billington, Superintendant of the Planting of the Royal Forest of Dean, &c.

THIS book is composed by a well-meaning good-natured sort of a man, evidently little accustomed to wield the pen. His "series of facts," however valuable some of them may be, are rather loosely arranged, and mixed up with much digressive and extraneous remark. The history of the rearing of the fences at Dean Forest exhibits little that is creditable to the projectors. The large banks of earth often gave way; and, "sometimes, only the outside turf slipped down, and did not, in the least, disturb the live hedge of whins." "The sheep and cattle, by grazing on the outsides of the banks, on soils of a loamy nature inclining to clay or marl, pulled up the grass that grew between the layers of turf, by the roots, which caused them to crumble down like clay, marl, or lime." (p. 6, 7.) This result might, we conceive, have been à priori expected; and, in place of the managers confining themselves to one form of fence in all soils, and that form, too, the least of all adapted for general practice, it would have been easy to vary the form of fence to suit the nature of the soil. On soils where the turf was full of small roots, the form of fence specified by the contract, though of itself sufficiently clumsy, and perfectly inadequate, without a top-rail, to keep out sheep while the whins were young, yet, when they were up, might, with their assistance, form a tolerable fence. The bank contracted for was 66 to be made 4 ft. 6 in. wide at bottom, 5 ft. high, and 2 ft. wide at top; and care was taken to build them entirely of turf, cut thin, from 3 to 4 or 5 in. thick, according to the nature of the soil; and a ditch 18 in. deep on the outside, a row of furze or whins to be sown on the top, and another at the foot of the banks outside." To this form, for universal practice, we have several objections: and, in the first place, it robs too great a breadth of the adjacent ground of its surface soil. Suppose the medium thickness of the turf to be 4 in., every linear foot of such fence will require 16 cubic

feet; which, multiplied by 3, for turf of 4 in. thick, will uncover a breadth of 48 ft. 9 in. all along the line of fence, depriving the trees, in many instances, of the only portion of the soil in which they could vegetate. On dry light soils, the upper part of the bank would be too dry for the upper row of furze forming an effective hedge: cattle would have too easy access to the bottom and sides of such fence, unless it were protected; and, if the value of the brushwood used is taken into the account, the expense might very nearly construct a more substantial fence altogether. We have frequently adopted the form, but not the dimensions, of the Dean Forest bank-fence, where we were forced to have the line of fence on ground sloping to the interior of the plantation from such fence; in all other cases, we have found the ditch and faced dike' fence the most economical, durable, and effective. The ditch 6 ft. wide at top, 3 ft. deep, 9 or 10 in. wide at bottom; the turf built to the same slope as the side of the ditch, and 34 ft. high, including a green turf at top, backed by the earth which comes out of the ditch; a row of whins sown on the top, inside the turf, and some seeds sprinkled in the face of the dike in course of building. A simple rail about 8 in. above the top turf, projecting outwards, and without any offset exceeding 3 in. where the dike commences, will form an effective fence against sheep; and cattle cannot browse to any hurtful extent, as the bottom of the ditch is too narrow to admit of their turning their face to the dike. The turf taken off the top of the ditch will build the faced dike, and the earth will afford sufficient backing. On this ditch bank are seen the best and most forward trees in the plantation, in place of having 48 ft. inward of stunted plants. The expense, too, of such a fence is a consideration: 1s. 6d. will fence 6 yards of the dike and ditch, and about another 6d. will cover the expense of railing, where every thing is to purchase, estimating labourers' wages at 2s. per day of 10 hours. (See Encyc. of Gard., § 6820.) We are better pleased with the method adopted, as a dernier ressort, by Mr. Billington, of planting wet land.'-"The lines were laid down, as usual, at 4 ft. apart; a good turf, 16 or 18 in. square, as thick as the soil would admit, laid with the grass side downwards a few months before planting: the two swards rot, and the sod becomes firmly fixed, so that they can be planted with the greatest ease, without disturbing the sod." This, however, by some modern writers, would be termed "a Scotch shift," though not practised in that country. Effectual draining we hold to be the first requisite in planting. Had this been properly attended to, and the surface of the swampy soils in Dean Forest pared and burned, there

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would have been no occasion for the sod system;' there would have been less cover of rank herbage for mice, under which to perform their "deeds of darkness," and fewer seeds for their sustenance; there would have been less waste of labour, and less waste of criticism on the mode of conducting that labour. It appears that the 'fern' (Ptèris aquilina, we presume) was a great annoyance in Dean Forest. This plant sends its roots more than a hundred feet deep into the soil, and, consequently, is not easily eradicated; it is, however, easily kept under while a plantation is young; and is, withal, one of the best indications we know of a soil suitable to the growth of oak and elm. We fear "Sir Henry Steuart" will not think the following extract quite scientific :'—" Because large plants, when removed, if they are not well cut in, pruned, or divested of a great part of their branches, are much longer before they make fresh shoots, if ever they do.” (p. 69.) We think the baronet and Mr. Billington are, on this subject, at the extremes of the question at issue. We would say, in removing a tree, be as careful of the roots as possible; but as, with the greatest care, some roots will be hurt or destroyed, remove an equal proportion of the branches, to preserve a fair equilibrium between the leaves and roots; or, as Mr. Billington remarks, "probably the bark, sap, and air-vessels get hide-bound and contracted for want of their usual supply and circulation of nutriment." (p. 69.) His mode of pruning larch nurslings, by cutting the branches about the middle, where they interfere with oak or other permanent wood, is entitled to the attention of those who have the management of young plantations; but, for an account of the superior growth of larch trees so pruned, we must refer to the work itself. The simple plaster of cow-dung, which he recommends for wounds in trees, we have always considered as equal in merit to the far-famed Forsyth's plaster: and, upon the whole, although the book is not well got up, we believe it contains many sensible and useful remarks. — A. G. Perthshire.

ART II. The Practical Planter; containing Directions for the Planting of Waste Land, and Management of Wood: with a new Method of rearing the Oak. By Thomas Cruickshank, Forester at Careston. Edinburgh, 1830. 8vo. 12s.

WE see trees of a huge size on the open lawn, or by the way-side; and, not recollecting, perhaps, of any thing having been done for them, are apt to imagine that wood wants little

or no attention to rear it to perfection. To fence a piece of ground, and merely to "stick in the trees," are, too frequently, all that are thought necessary. Hence the miserable appearance of many woods and plantations in the kingdom; and sometimes the opinion that planting is an unprofitable undertaking.

Were the subject more generally understood, and the most judicious schemes acted on, it is easy to anticipate the improved appearance, and increased value, of many neglected districts of the country; for there is hardly a vacant corner, or a heathy waste, which will not produce valuable crops of trees of one kind or other. One can hardly think of a more extravagant or a less rational scheme, than planting the same kinds of trees in every variety of soil and situation; yet we find writers of professed experience recommending the larch and oak to be planted universally. Indeed, the chief part of the art lies in adapting the kinds of trees to the quality of the soil and the peculiarity of the situation.

Perhaps at no former period of our history has the subject of plantation been more anxiously discussed than of late years. Some of the authors are persons of rank and title, and some are professional; but it is matter of regret that conflicting schemes have been advocated, and experience has been made to support directly opposite principles.

A number of authors have recommended raising the oak from the acorn, without transplanting; while others have maintained that the only way to obtain a thriving oak wood is, by using stout plants, several years old, from the nursery. Both these classes have advised their oaks to be from 10 to 7 ft. apart, that the land might be sufficiently stocked for a full crop. Another, though not a numerous, class, have talked of a much smaller number 17 to an acre! These, however, they propose to increase, as may be required, merely by layering!

But most writers agree on the advantages of pretty close planting, and gradual thinning. There are some who maintain that there is only one sort of Scotch pine indigenous to North Britain; and affirm that Scotch nurserymen brought a spurious variety from Canada, not more than fifty years since, which now pervades the whole kingdom! others consider the whole of that story without foundation. Some recommend carefully cutting off the snags and dying branches from the boles of all the trees of the pine and fir tribes; while others condemn all pruning of pines and firs as certain destruction to the trees. Some will have their hard-wood trees pruned up with a clean stem, and a bushy head; others wish the boles VOL. VI. — No 27.

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of their trees to be furnished with small branches and twigs, and the top moderately thinned out, to let the leader get up. On this hand, we are directed to cut every competing branch at once off, close by the bole: on that, we are advised to shorten, and wait till the bole increase to such a size as to envelope the branch so shortened, that the evil of an abrupt termination of the layers of wood, at the amputated place, may be prevented!

Here we are informed, that the best way to season larch wood, and keep it from warping, is to bark it a year or two before cutting it down. There, again, that the only way to season wood of every kind, and give it hardness and solidity, is to immerse it in water immediately on taking it down.

In the sizes and ages of the plants, the time of planting, the manner of pitting, the preparation of the land for receiving the plants, and the effects of that preparation on the quality of the timber when it comes to maturity, the opinions are conflicting and perplexing.

Without pretending to account for these discrepancies on the subject of raising timber, we feel no difficulty in attributing them, in most cases, to hasty conclusions, drawn from illdigested premises. Hence, imaginary improvements are made known, which lead the public astray, as the ignis fatuus does the bewildered traveller, till he finds himself involved in a quagmire of difficulties.

Not a few of the late authors on planting discover a very culpable ignorance of the writings of their predecessors: an acquaintance with which might have enabled them to correct their own mistakes and erroneous notions, and also have prevented them from bringing forward much redundant matter, and making themselves ridiculous in the world.

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The professed object of the last publication on planting (Mr. Cruickshank's Practical Planter) is, to teach the world a new method of rearing the oak." That its author should have imagined the method he recommends as "new," can only be accounted for from his total ignorance of almost every book on the subject of raising timber. Indeed, the identical method of creating shelter for the pits of oaks which he speaks of, is circumstantially detailed in Nicol's Planter's Kalendar (p. 192-195.), a work which made its appearance in 1812.

The methods of raising oak timber from acorns without transplanting, and from transplanted trees, have each their advantages and disadvantages. We have a curious contrast of these in the work before us (p. 235.): on the common "method of cultivating it [the oak], the person who plants scarce ever lives to see it arrive at a bulk large enough to