Whether a man prepares the soil properly previously to planting, encloses sufficiently, and prunes and thins adequately afterwards, is of much less consequence to the public than it is to himself. A plantation may be admirably adapted to the situation in which it is placed; may be planted with the proper sorts of trees; and may, in its young state at least, be every thing that can be wished in regard to the improvement of the landscape, and yet afford little or no profit to the proprietor. With the profit, indeed, the public may be said to have very little to do: all that they are fairly entitled to criticise is the general effect; and for that, and for that alone, neglected plantations are (all other circumstances being equal) for the first fifteen or twenty years of their growth, as good as well-managed ones. So much ground has been planted in the west of Scotland within the last thirty years, that there is not the least danger of a scarcity of native timber; there is equally little danger of a deficiency of surface for the culture of grass or corn; and therefore, if any landed proprietor chooses to ornament the country without benefiting himself, the country, so far from objecting, ought to be very much obliged to him. We can assert without fear of contradiction, that there is not one proprietor in a hundred, in the west of Scotland, that prunes, thins and otherwise manages his plantations as he ought to do, in order to make the most of them in point of profit during the first twenty years of their growth, and of both profit and beauty afterwards (We say profit and beauty afterwards; because, after trees have attained a timber height, much of their beauty, when collected in masses, depends on each tree having room sufficient to show the character of its head. Hence a wood, consisting of trees singly and in small groups, with underwood beneath, is almost always more beautiful than a grove consisting of trees only; because, in the latter case, the trees generally, even in the best-managed groves, stand too thick). This fact, when considered in the abstract, seems almost incredible; nevertheless, it cannot be denied, though in many cases it would seem difficult to assign a reason. An opinion that plantations cannot afford profit for many years after planting; ignorance of what is required; indifference on the subject; and a general dislike to cutting down trees, whether young or old, are reasons which very generally prevail. The last is carried to an extent which may be considered a diseased feeling; and is, in our opinion, most ridiculous.
