It was the practice of the latter gentleman, to trench his ground from “fourteen to eighteen inches deep,” and on poor land, to “put on as much manure as if turnips were intended to be sown,” and to hoe and keep clean the land, _for seven years after planting_. The results were, extraordinary rapidity of growth, and a consequent early and ample return upon the capital invested, in addition to the full accomplishment of an object, which is, of course, ardently desired by every planter: viz.: the pleasure of seeing rapidly rise up before him, a healthy and most promising race of trees. The second mistake which I shall notice is a very common one; and is committed by those who _prepare the land well, but, by a bad selection of plants_, either as to age, or kind, or both, render success impossible. The error as to _age_ consists, most frequently, in their being _too old_: that as to the _kind_, in not choosing such as _are adapted_ to the nature of the soil. A third class of planters may be met with, who, to a certain extent, avoid all the mistakes previously referred to, but who commit the unaccountable blunder of throwing the various kinds promiscuously together, without any _regard to congeniality as to the plants_; and in this case, the trees that are really valuable are overtopped, and mastered by a set of _worthless trash_, which, when full grown, are hardly worth the trouble of cutting down. _When a Plantation is made in this barbarous manner, and left in this state for twenty years, or even less_, no subsequent efforts, however sound the judgment which is exercised may be, can _wholly_ repair the mischief which is done. By this mistake, an immense loss of property accrues to the proprietor, and the worst of all is, that the trite consolation is not left him, that what is “his loss, is another’s gain,” for here nobody is benefitted; while to himself there is superadded the mortification of a _loss of time_, “which no man can restore.” That the strong language which I have here employed is fully justified, will at once be admitted by every reflecting person, who has any acquaintance with these matters; for it will appear at the outset, that if a slow-growing tree is planted close to one which will grow half as fast again, and if the slow grower is the tree _intended for timber_, the latter must inevitably be so much damaged as to affect its health for ever, if something be not done to relieve it. I shall not, in this place, “remark” more particularly on this point, than to say, that I have often seen the oak in this relative position, with the alder, the birch, the poplar, the larch, and other trees.