Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation Part 30

This premature fruiting arises sometimes from the roots of the plant having been too much crippled, either by breaking or drying from being kept too long out of the ground; we may here state, then, that, if only to prevent this, in all cases of transplantation, they should be taken out of the nursery with great care, so as to injure the roots as little as possible, and further be planted in their new home with the utmost despatch. Disappointment is sure to result where trees of any kind have been kept long out of the ground, as they are when bought at market or in packets at sales. We should never purchase at the latter, unless they were left in the ground to be fetched as might be required.

As we have been led incidentally to remark upon the subject of crippling by means of injured roots, we may now point out that the same thing occurs where young trees have been topped either for mischief, or injudiciously pruned. We remember having some larches thus damaged by some vagabond boy, and in seven years they were only dwarf cone-bearing bushes, whilst others planted at the same time were 15 feet in height.

In this case, then, instant removal, when discovered, and the being replaced by fresh plants, would after all be a saving of time in getting useful sticks.

2. _Pitting._-In this process the soil is sometimes dug out so as to make holes about 2 feet square, the soil being left to weather by the sides of the holes, and returned around the trees when they are planted. This is not nearly so expensive as trenching; but it, too, is not always advisable, for trees have the tendency to confine their roots to the dug-out s.p.a.ce for some years, and so they do not get the hold upon the ground that they otherwise would.

This plan is that of partial trenching, and we should prefer the former to the pitting process, unless where stones, such as those found in the oolite rocks, come to the surface. In such case, the removal of some of the larger stones and supplementing them with soil from some other source we have found to be of advantage.

3. _Ploughing_ the soil is as expeditious a plan of preparing and clearing it as we possess; and now that steam cultivation can be brought into action for a much greater depth than could be done with horses, smashing-up the land by its means would be no bad preparation for planting where this is to be done on tolerably level ground.

While upon this subject we may here quote, as still worthy of attention, the directions in the fourth edition of the "Sylva."

Let us now see in what manner we are to prepare the ground for their reception. The best way is by trenching, or double digging, as deep as the soil will admit of; but as this is a very expensive proceeding, and consequently can only be practised upon a small scale, I shall recommend another good method of preparing the ground. This is to be done by proper ploughing, and, if agreeable, the year before the land is planted, it may bear a crop of oats, rape, or turnips. By this means the sward will be effectually destroyed. After the crop is off, let the ground be trench-ploughed, and then harrowed with very heavy harrows, to break the clods; about the end of October let it be again ploughed crossways, and harrowed as before. This is the season for planting the sets, for the ground, by being thus cross-ploughed and well harrowed, will be in proper order for their reception. The manner of planting the sets is as follows:-

First, carefully take the plants out of the seed-beds, shorten the tap-root, and take off part of the side-shoots, that there may be an equal proportion of strength between the stem and the root. If the wood is designed to be but small, ten, twenty, or thirty acres, then lines may be drawn, and the trees planted in rows, four feet distant from each other, and the trees two feet asunder in the row: each line must have a man and a boy for planting. The ground being made light and pliable by cross-ploughing and harrowing, the man strikes his spade into the earth close to the line; he then takes it out, and gives another stroke at right angles with it; then the boy, having a parcel of plants under his left arm, takes one with his right hand, and readily puts it into the crevice made by the spade at the second stroke; after this the man gently presses the mould to it with his foot, and thus the young oakling is planted.

He proceeds in the same manner to the next, and so on till all is finished. An active man with his boy will plant 1,500 or 2,000 in a day; and while they are planting others should be employed in taking up fresh sets from the seed-bed, sorting them, and preparing their roots. In short, a sufficient number of hands should be set to every part of this work, that the whole may be carried on with despatch and regularity; for the ground cannot be too soon furnished with its plants after it is in readiness to receive them, neither can the plants be put too early into the ground after they are taken up from the seminary. Those plants which are nearly of the same size should be made to occupy a large quarter together, and the weakest should be left in the seminary a year longer to gain strength.

The trees, either for small or large plantations, being in the ground, the first care should be to fence them well from cattle, and even, if possible, from rabbits and hares. The next should be to keep them clear from weeds, that they may not be incommoded in their growth. In all lands weeds must be carefully watched and destroyed at their first appearance. In small plantations hoeing may do; but where the plantations are large and n.o.ble, a double-shelving plough should be provided; and when the weeds are got two or three inches high, this must be drawn exactly down the middle of each row by horses with their mouths muzzled, somebody leading the foremost horse; this plough will effectually throw a ridge each way, so that the edge of it will be almost contiguous to the plants on both sides. This being done, the whole surface of the ground will be changed, and the weeds all buried, except a few about the stems of the plants, which a man following the plough should cut or pluck up. In this manner the ground may lie until a fresh crop of weeds present themselves; when these are about three inches high, a common plough should be provided to go up one side of the row and down the other, to plough the ridges made by the double-shelving plough into their former places, men following with hoes to destroy such weeds as are near the stems of the trees. Thus will the whole scene be changed again; the ground will appear as new-tilled; and in this condition it may remain until the weeds call for the double-shelving plough a second time, which must also be followed alternately with the common plough as occasion may require. By this means the ground will not only be kept clear of weeds, but the earth, by constant stirring, will be more replete with nourishing juices, the gentle showers will produce their good effects, the sun will have his influence, and all the powers of vegetation will combine to nourish and set forward the infant oak.

This work must be repeated every year, until the oaks are of a height sufficient to destroy the weeds, which may be, perhaps, in three or four years, according to the goodness of the ground in which they are planted.

Still, notwithstanding the care sometimes taken in planting, we have often observed that the simple method of making triangular or cruciform openings with the spade, thus-[Y] [+], and carefully dividing the roots in putting the plants in their places, and afterwards well pressing the turf against them, has succeeded as well as any other method. Indeed, we have known plants put in with only a single slit; but this never succeeds so well, though it is more expeditiously performed. Where, however, trees are put in at so much an acre, the plan of action must be specified, and the proceedings carefully watched, to ensure its due performance, or the work will most likely be done in the quickest, and not best, manner.

CHAPTER XLI.

ON THE KINDS OF TIMBER BEST ADAPTED FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS.

That the growth and quality of timber will be influenced by the nature of the soil is a matter so well understood that it would scarcely require to be treated of in this place, if we did not daily see examples of planting in which all laws of growth have been set at defiance; still, occasionally, experience has lent her aid and produced some satisfactory results; and, as an exemplification of our meaning, and as showing the influence of geological position upon planting, we would direct attention to the following section:-

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALICE HOLT FOREST.

Beech. Hops. Larch. Oak. Larch. Hops. Beech.

4. Chalk. 3. Chalk Marl. 2. Upper G. S. 1. Gault Clay.]

Here we have the oak-of both varieties known to planters, to be hereafter described-flourishing most luxuriantly on the stiff soil of the gault; the chalk-marl, upper green sand, and gault-the two latter only partially-being engaged in hop cultivation. The green sand surrounding the forest is mostly devoted to the growth of larch or spruce, the thinnings of which are used for hop-poles and the larger trees are left as timber-belts; whilst the beech will be found to favour the chalk. Hops and other cultivated plants flourish according to geological position.

That the geology of a district affects vegetation mainly, according to the mechanical and chemical structure of its individual rocks and the climate in which they are situate, is quite true; and yet the following table will show that different formations favour the growth of trees upon other conditions than those named.

Choosing figures to represent relative values, the annexed table is intended to show the amount of influence exercised by certain geological rocks in the growth of different fruit and forest trees met with in England.

+-----------+---+------------------+------+-----+----+----+------+-----+ No. Rocks. Apple. Pear. Oak. Elm. Beech. Firs. +-----------+---+------------------+------+-----+----+----+------+-----+ Cretaceous{ 1 Chalk 2 0 2 4 8 5 Rocks. { 2 Green Sands 3 1 3 7 0 3 { 3 Gault 4 1 6 6 0 0 Jura.s.sique} 4 Oxford Clay 6 0 10 8 0 1 Rocks. } 5 Oolite Freestone 2 0 1 4 10 5 } 6 Lias 10 3 5 10 0 1 7 New Red Sandstone 8 10 7 12 0 2 8 Mountain Limestone 1 0 2 2 3 1 9 Old Red Sandstone 15 8 8 10 0 1 +-----------+---+------------------+------+-----+----+----+------+-----+

These figures may serve to express-although roughly-the capacities of different formations for the production of fruit and forest trees, and it may be curious to note that, while the chalk and the oolite freestones, both composed of carbonate of lime, offer a remarkable agreement in point of dendrological productions, the mountain limestone, also consisting of carbonate of lime, affords very different results; here, no doubt, the different kinds of scenery presented by the rocks themselves have a decided influence on the general results.

Much, however, of any geological influence in the growth of trees must depend upon the material rather than upon the position of the rocks forming the subsoil upon which they occur, and thus it may be expected that clays, limestones, and sands, and different mixtures of these, will each favour the growth of a peculiar spontaneous or native vegetation; so that, if we looked to a larger list of trees and coupled it with lists of herbaceous plants, we might make out even a stronger case, either for the effects of geological or lithological conditions; but enough has been said to point out that various trees naturally affect one position more than another, and so they succeed as the results of planting and cultivation in one kind of soil in preference to another, and it may be laid down as a rule, that pomaceous fruits and hard-wooded trees, as oak and elm, only _flourish_ in strong soils, though they may be imperfectly grown in all soils, whilst soft-wooded trees, as beech, lime, and the coniferae, succeed best in lighter soils; hence, then, the planter who would try to grow vigorous oak on sandbeds would be disappointed, and while beech is the "weed" of the Cotteswold oolite, whoever tries to grow an orchard upon the freestone rocks is sure to meet with disappointment.

As regards forest trees we shall, for the most part, confine our remarks to those of the following list, as, although of recent years many new genera and species have been introduced, they are not yet in general cultivation even for ornamental purposes, much less as a source of profit.

LIST OF NATIVE OR NATURALIZED FOREST TREES.

Oak } Chestnut } Our more common timber trees used Walnut } in buildings, furniture, cooperage, Elm } turnery, &c.

Ash } Beech }

Birch } Employed in furniture, turnery, &c.

Larch } The British Coniferae are not used Spruce } for timber, except for fencing and Scotch Fir } other common purposes.

Poplar }

Plane } Mountain Ash } Employed for turnery, picture-frames, Maple } and occasional useful purposes.

Lime }

CHAPTER XLII.

ON THE BRITISH OAK.

Whilst the discussion is still pending, of iron against wooden bulwarks, if only for the love we feel towards the "brave old oak," a few notes upon the forms of this truly national tree can hardly fail to be acceptable. At starting, however, we must bear in mind, that though we have ever looked upon the oak as so thoroughly British that we had almost been brought to think that it was made for the sole glory of our land, yet there are those who would wish to cast a doubt upon its true aboriginal nature, and who, according to their custom, represent everything great as borrowed from the Continent. What says, however, that pleasant discourser on forest trees, Jacob George Strutt, of imperishable sylvan fame:-"In proportion as the oak is valued above all other trees, so is the English oak esteemed above that of any other country, for its particular characteristics of hardness and toughness, qualities which so peculiarly fit it to be the 'father of ships,' and which are so admirably expressed in two epithets by that great poet, to whom the book of nature and of the human heart seemed alike laid open:-

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt Splitt'st the _unwedgeable_ and _gnarled_ oak, Than the soft myrtle."-SHAKESPEARE.

Selby again, in his "History of Forest Trees," a work which should be in the hands of all lovers of the beautiful natural objects of which it treats, describes the finding of some bog oaks, which would almost connect the present race with a fossilized past:-

At the Linden, the seat of C. W. Bigge, Esq., the trunk of a magnificent oak was extracted from a peat moss that fills a small basin or hollow, evidently produced by the stagnation of a stream, which now pa.s.ses through it, and which, at some distant period, had been dammed back by the fall of the trees upon its margins. This oak was covered by a layer of the peat to the depth of about three feet, and was discovered by probing the moss. The trunk, with a small portion of one of the larger limbs, was with great labour and difficulty dragged from its miry bed. The contents of the portion recovered contained 545 cubic feet, although the whole of the sap-wood had perished. The timber was perfectly sound, and the tree, by whatever accident it had been overthrown, had fallen in the vigour of its growth. When sawn up, the interior planks were found of a deep rich brown colour; those nearer the exterior darker, or approaching to black. A variety of elegant furniture has been made from the wood; but it has been found necessary, for fine cabinet-work, to have it cut into veneers, for, when worked in bulk, it is apt to crack and become warped. Remains of other huge oaks have also been met with on the banks of the Tyne, the Alne, and other rivers, as well as in various bogs and mora.s.ses; and we mention these instances to show that in a district where, at the present day, nothing but recently-planted oak or dwarfish timber from stock-shoots exists, in former times the monarch of the forest grew luxuriantly, and attained a splendid development; and also as an inducement to the planter not to neglect the liberal insertion of this national tree wherever soil and situation are found congenial to its growth. In other parts of England, the oak still grows in all its native magnificence of form and dimensions, and the remains of those ancient forests, which are chronicled by our earliest writers, and which, in the time of our Saxon ancestors, spread over the greater portion of the country, are still to be traced in the venerable but living relics of enormous oaks, many of which are supposed to number more than a thousand years.

Not to neglect to plant the national tree! We hope indeed that there is no possessor of broad acres who does not esteem it a duty, regardless of profit, to provide for a succession of forest kings, if only to beautify the face of the country, and to leave the people of the present, some grand living object to connect them with the history of the past. In fact, planting of the "British oak" has not only been considered a duty, but followed out with the keenest pleasure by the country gentleman. In so doing, the question has scarcely until lately occurred, is the British oak always the same? or, are there not different species, or at least varieties of the genus _quercus_ which have been confounded by the planter? To this question we now propose to address our inquiries.

On referring to different authors, we shall find mention of the following names as applied to the British oak:-

1. Quercus robur, _Linn_.

2. sessiliflora, _Salisbury_.

3. intermedia, _Don_.

This method of nomenclature would, however, be only tenable on the supposition that we considered the trees so named _specifically_ distinct; but as we incline to believe them to be only varieties-though highly important as such-we intend to treat of them as follows:-

1st. QUERCUS ROBUR PEDUNCULATA.

2nd. SESSILIFLORA.

3rd. INTERMEDIA.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate II.