In concluding my remarks on Planting, I cannot help referring to the specimens of sowing and thick planting, which may be seen on the extensive estate of the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, and in that neighbourhood. It has always been His Grace’s practice, either to sow Acorns, or to plant Oaks, in alternate beds, having Larch between. If the Oaks were planted, they were put in very thickly; and although their progress was necessarily slower than it would have been, if they had been allowed more room, it cannot be doubted that His Grace had a great advantage in the almost unlimited choice which it gave him, of trees of perfect form, for the ultimate crop of timber.
The system of thick planting has been fully carried out: having prepared the ground well, His Grace appears to have never lost sight, for an instant, of the young trees that he had undertaken to rear: there has been no mistaken practice—no niggardly economy—no ruinous neglect, rendering all his previous care abortive, and sacrificing his large outlay at the commencement. When the Plantations have required attention, they have evidently had it.
The admirer of fine timber will see, in the Duke’s Plantations and grounds, some of the most perfectly formed trees that can be conceived of, and that not on a small scale, but to an extent as comprehensive as that truly noble Duke’s genius, of whom it may probably be said that he unites, in his mind and person, as many of those qualities which constitute true Nobility, as any Gentleman of his day.
It is not in the power of my feeble pen to show the immense amount of good which has accrued to the immediate neighbourhood, from the employment of the poor in the locality, in carrying on, and in completing, those splendid improvements which His Grace has originated, and which have caused the literal desert to “blossom as the rose”: much less can I describe the area of the vast circle, within which the most beneficial effects have been felt, from the influence of the noble Duke’s example, while perfecting, as he has done, his various plans for the improvement of his fine estate.
In the Welbeck Plantations will be found, as I have said, a class of trees, most perfectly suited to the situations where they stand, and giving the surest promise of future superiority: but what, let me ask, would have been the quality of the Oaks, if the noble Duke had jumbled together an incongruous admixture of various sorts, as has been recommended by various writers of eminence, even in our own day? I am not disposed to enter into a controversy with any of those who have recorded their opinions in their writings, otherwise I might have plenty of work on my hands: it will be quite as much as ought to be expected from me, if I defend my own: but I would just quote a single paragraph from an interesting and useful, but, on some points, incorrect volume, published by “The Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge.” It is entitled “Useful and Ornamental Planting.” The passage to which I refer, will be found in the 43rd page, and runs thus:
“Simple Plantations consist of one or two species of trees only; mixed Plantations of many different species. The latter, on suitable soils, are the most profitable: they afford an earlier, more permanent, and a larger return for Capital than simple Plantations.”
In a book where there is so much to commend, where so many valuable practical directions are given, it cannot but excite regret, to meet with a paragraph so vague and unsatisfactory as the above; for I cannot but remark, that if any planter should adopt the suggestion which is thrown out, it will end in disappointment and loss. It will, in my judgment, generally be best for the planter to select such trees for nurses as are most congenial, and best adapted to the local market; and surely these will not be the Birch, the Beech, the Alder, or the Scotch Fir; none of which are ever found to answer the purpose of nursing the more valuable timber trees, or of securing a fair return for the investment of capital.
It is true that the opinion which I have quoted, is afterwards qualified by the remark, that certain “circumstances connected with the growth of the various species of forest trees, effectually control the planter in his modes of arrangement, &c.” but even with this limitation, the planter is liable to be misled, for he is not taught to set a higher value upon the Larch, which may in almost every locality be planted with a much better chance of profit, than the other kinds with which it is ranked, and which ought therefore, if profit be the object, for that reason alone, to be preferred.
In any thing else but planting, the mischief of such a mistake, as producing that which was worthless when produced, would, in a short time, have cured itself; but so little of science, or even of common calculation, have been brought to bear upon the practice of Arboriculture, that, notwithstanding the evidence which is every where to be met with, of serious “loss and disappointment,” for want of calculation, these matters go on very much as they “always have done.”
Finally, as to planting, it must, in every case, be perfectly clear to one who is competent to judge, that, whether the object be profit merely, or the embellishment of the landscape, the land ought to be as well prepared as circumstances will permit, and that such species of trees should be preferred, as are best adapted to the specific object of the planter.