In numerous instances—and this I shall call mistake the first—the trees are put in without any _previous preparation of the soil_. It is not possible, in the ordinary run of cases, to commit a greater error than this. It is, emphatically, to build upon a bad foundation, and it is very rarely indeed that Plantations, so commenced, ever make any thing out. When I say this, I do not mean to assert that they never become trees of any size: _unfortunately they do_, in some situations, and men are so ignorant—there is so little real scientific knowledge of the subject to be met with anywhere—that the most erroneous conclusions are drawn from this fact. The question as to what a Plantation might have done, or what it _would_ have done, if it had been properly treated, is never thought of! No one ever dreams of instituting a comparison between such a Plantation as _it is_, and _as it ought to have been_. And yet this is the very first question which should be asked, or rather which should be _anticipated_. But the majority of Plantations, which are commenced without any preparation of the soil, are complete failures, as may be seen by any one who chooses to take the trouble to examine for himself. Influenced by a most mistaken notion of economy, many persons plant their trees on land which is already fully occupied—it may be, by ling, by bracken, or by long grass, or twitch—and in most cases of this sort, the greater number die; but there may probably remain a few which sustain a feeble existence, so as just to make _a show of a Plantation_, and the owner seldom gives himself the trouble to attempt to ascertain why it is no better. The method usually adopted, when planting is done in this way, is, to dig small holes at fixed distances, into which the plants are put by the workman in the best manner that he can, and they are left to fight their way as best they may. Mr. Withers, of Holt, in Norfolk, has ably, and indignantly, denounced the hole-digging system, and has shown, most clearly, the advantage of “_the highest degree of culture_,” for raising timber, whether as a pecuniary question, or where it is wanted for merely ornamental purposes. It is true that an opinion at variance with his, has been given by some, but every practical man will, at once, perceive where the truth lies; nor will he be at any loss, whether, in the preparation of a field for planting, to follow the directions of Sir Henry Steuart, or those of Mr. Withers.