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root, which, having been allowed to remain, has, in the courſe of years, overſpread the whole tree. It leems to me, that the nouriſhment required to ſupply the vegeta- tion of the moſs, is a great impediment to the growth of trees 3; for I have had the moſs ſcraped oft, and the progreſs with which the trees have increaſed, after that operation, has been aſtoniſhing.'Uhis is performed by an inſtrument like a hoe, made concave, to ſuit the ſhape of the tree. My father had it made with teeth, like a curry-comb; but I think the plain one 1s better. In addition to this, there ſhould be an inſtrument like a rake, with only three or four large prongs, to draw away the collection of mols and graſs at the root of the tree; and then both the moſs, and the chief cauſe of it, will be removed, and that too at a very cheap rate. This work may be performed by an old man, who can labour at notbing elſe. The wages of ſuch a perſon are, with me, from 6. to 8 d. a-day. He can clear a tree from moſs, of 20 feet high in the ſtem, and 18 inches diameter, in ten minutes; that is to ſay, at the rate of 6 in an hour: and ſuppoſing he works only 8 hours in a day, that is, 48 trees a-day. But I will ſuppoſe the number of trees a-day to be only 40, and the wages of the labourer 19. and that he works only 200 days of the 365, this will make 8000 in a year, cleaned of moſs, for 10/. Any perſon who has occaſion to try this, will find the expence amply repaid, by the extraordinary improvement which it produces in the growth of the trees: and if the ſoil is thoroughly dried, the trees kept properly thinned, and the moſs and matted graſs removed from the roots of the trees, I am almoſt ſure that they will be no longer infeſted with moſs; for it is not cauſed by the atmoſphere, otherwiſe it would be univerſal; whereas I find it, with me at leaſt, to be but partial.

Thinning.--From the ſtate of my plantations, thinning is now the great and prin- cipal object of my attention. For this I have no general rule but one, which is, gra- dually and ſafely to cut out the pines, and bring the whole woods to foreſt-timber; becauſe the pine, being but a tenant for üfe, when once cut down, never riſes again: but the foreſt-tree, if due attention is paid to the fences, gives an eſtate in fee-ſmple, riſing again and again from the ſtool; and the older the root, the more vigorous the growth. Where the firs and foreſt-trees have got up together, I gradually cut out the firs; but where the firs have over-Ihadowed and choked the foreſt-trees(of which there occur frequent inſtances, when the Scotch fir has been uſed as a nurſe), I then cut the firs out in patches, thereby forming vacuities of 30, 40, or 50 feet diameter, and leaving a thick fringe of firs round thoſe open ſpaces. The choked foreſt-trees being thus relieved from the noxious drop of the over-ſhadowing fir, riſes rapidly: and the rapidity of their growth is much increaſed by ſtubbing the choked tree; for it will ſooner be a tree, if cut over, than if left to grow from its choked decrepit ſhoots. When the foreſt-trees, in thoſe apartments, riſe to be out of danger from wind or cold, and to be themſelves a ſhelter, then the ſurrounding firs will be cut down; and the foreſt-trees, ſheltered by their neighbours then grown up, will get on, and the whole become gradually a wood of foreſt-trees. As all my plantations were origi- nally well ſtocked with foreſt-trees, cutting away the firs in this manner is the only thing requiſite to be done. But thoſe gentlemen who have fir-wood only, may gra dually obtain foreſt-timber, by clearing out ſpaces in their fir-woods, and then plant-'

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