removed. Oaks, reared from acorms., in plantations,
prepared for the purpofe, near villages, with the utmaff
care and attention, though afterwards tranfplanted ora
a mountain;,' will never be fa perfect as thofe »hat
have grown fponta,aeoufly car even originally fown there.
Thefe two allegations will ihew, that the Spanifb ordinance
of 1748, for the planting.of mountains., committed
two capital errors in its decrees.; for it fays, H That near
every village, a nurf'ery fhall be eftablifhed for the lowing
o f acorns, manuring them every year ; and- when,
they are tranfplanted, the length of a foot is to. be cut
off from the root of every plant, while two or three
feet of earth is laid round, them, to. make them grow
fafter (<?) 1” This, may do very well to obtain a fine avenue-
in a park, or form an agreeable grove, but will never
a^tfwer the end. o f yielding good folid timber, proper
for the building of hqufes or ihips; for, though it is.
certain that a tree tranfplanted, pruned, and well fop-
plied with manure, may flourifh, and have a. beautiful,
appearance, yet this, is obtained at the expence o f
its co.nilitution, by a precipitated vegetation. The
intention of the ordinance was. to: leffen the original defeat,
by tranfplantation on a mountain ; but this exp.e-
(a) The words of the ordinance are as follows : “ Oue en cada lugar fe fenalara un vivero
para fembrar las bellqtas, beneficiandole coil eftiercol cada ano, y en ej iqifmo.afto dp.1 tj-^f-
plante fe cortara a cada arbol un pie de fu planta, y para que crefqan eon, breyedad, fe les,
arrjnara dos 0 tres pies de tierr^.1’— Ordenanza. De la criary plantio, dqlos, monies.. Del ano.
de 17 48.
. ■ - dient
dient has not power enough to correct the-error ari fi rag
fromPlts firft propagation;* and what is-ffill wbrfe,’ a further
law contributes'móré folly to its deéay, : ffneeit Ordains’
that- they fhOuM be priined,' in -order toifh-oot
up raid re vigOioufly, arid that the ffralght trees-, which
might be converted into beams or knee thnbers, ought
to-be improved, by-cutting the points-of their principal
ftìoots:(«).?’ This-regulàtfon.piodueés-tbé reverfe e f what-
was: intended*, and is the originalraaufe of fb-many hollow
oaks ob'ferved throughout Spain. - For this rea-fon-the
White mùflberry trees-of Valencia,^and Mureiapare genet*
rally hollow, while the black fort in Grenada is folid and
healthy, becaule the fhoots are not pruned. On the
road1 from Tortola to Va-leneià, I meafured three-rnon-
ftrous olive trees, entirely h-ollbw, having fearce any-fob-
ftaneé beyond the: bark, and yet they bore fruit.- One
©f them was forty*one feet in circumference. I faw
others, as larger at Vil-lavieieia, in Portugal, which were
llout and folid:, beeaufe they-had not been fo barbaroully
treated : in a word, every tree ufed in the manner the
king’s ordinance direris, may thrive and grow for many
years, but it will -not attain to-tfeat erifis o f time, between
life and death, when it ought to be in a ftate of perfection.
Cedars and firs I allow, may be excepted' from
. (a) The or^linaqce fay?if “ Que J?s. p.cx^as de I05 axb.olq^:fon .pata -quq^crefcan ianos tp y qu.e
los arboles der echos que pueden convertirfe en vaos, quillàs y codaftes, deben beneficiarie
eortando k s -punta-de ;la gnia■prineip«lj,,
. this