To procure a sufficiency of excellent crooks, every person who has the charge of young plantations of timber intended for naval purposes, ought, in the more exposed situations not favourable to the growth of plank timber, or timber for bending, when the plants are from 3 to 15 feet high, to mark out the most healthy, suitably formed plants, sufficiently close to fill the ground when of the proper size, say 6 yards apart, and to bend these, as the under figures will illustrate. The dotted portion is the growth after being bent. {23} [Illustration: Fig. _f._] The bend of floors requiring to be at the middle, and of angular bend, see Fig. _f_, young trees of one-half the required length, should have the earth removed from the bulb of the root, from one or both sides, according to circumstances, and the tree and stool partially upset to windward, that is, generally south-west; (the operator, in effecting this, may be assisted by a strong pronged instrument); then fixed in this inclined position, and the earth filled in. This inclination may be given at planting, when the plants are tall. The best mode of securing the larger plants in their bent position, is by rods, forked or hooked at one end, the other end nailed to a ground-stake;—the upper end, if forked, firmly tied to the bent plant by mat or straw rope. Smaller plants may be secured to the notched tops of stakes by ligatures; and the smallest, particularly larch, pinned down by small stakes with hooked tops. Advantage may also be taken of an adjacent tree of small value, and which would ultimately be required to be thinned out, to tie the bended standard down to the most convenient part of its top or stem, lopping off all above the ligature, if it interfere with the standard, and barking it near the ground, to prevent much future growth. When the workmen comprehend {24} the required bends, they will fall upon methods of fixing the plants in the most suitable position, better adapted to the locality than any directions can teach. The plants will require to be fixed down at least two years, and bent a little more than what is requisite, as in their after-growth they have generally a tendency to become straighter, from depositing the thickest layers in the hollow of the bend. A fine regular curve may be obtained by bending the plant for several successive years, a little lower every year; this gradual lowering does not so much check the growth of the leader, nor tend so much to cause the feeders upon the upper side to push as leaders. When oaks are bent, great attention must be paid to cut away any ground-shoots, and to cut off or twist down any strong feeders that stand perpendicular on the upper side of the tree; and also for several years afterwards, to look over the trees twice a-year, correcting any exuberant feeder, and destroying root-shoots. The forester ought to keep in mind that his pupils are proverbially pliant, and that, should his growing timber