Hi Brecht, 

It is quite difficult to point a publication specific to be used as reference for this purpose.

However, I believe, silvicultural books are update regarding the conversion of agricultural lands into forest plantations. Not only site preparation can be different, but also, the fertilizer and weed management would require a previous knowledge of the site.

As an update book, I would recommend "Growing Plantation Forests" by West, P.

It has all subjects concerning this subject, and others that may come in hand during the process of forest development in agricultural fields.

You can visit International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which works on natural resource management and you will find materials for Forest development.

As Bruce notes, this is an old topic and is hard to point to a single book or author.  For example, Henry Oosting was writing about the ecological development following field abandonment in 1942 ("An Ecological Analysis of the Plant Communities of Piedmont, North Carolina"). By the way, this is a really nice read and it is fun to look at what the (relatively) early days of ecological publishing looked like.

Try searching for texts concerning "old-field succession". You will likely find a lot, especially in eastern North America. One of the first to pop up is "Old Fields: Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland" edited by Cramer and Hobbs.

I found some literature examples hoping that they may help you in some cases.

In case you want to look beyond books and the eastern USA see attached. Enjoy

Article Does forest restoration using taungya foster tree species di...

A number of books, journal articles, conference/seminar/workshop proceedings are available covering various aspects of the topic such as agroforestry, farm forestry etc. You have to look for specifics depending on your requirements.

yes, It is difficult to point out a book. but I would like give you some reference paper. Please check the following. Some of them are related with afforestation on farmland, some of them are related with returning farmland to forest. 

Covington W (1981) Changes in forest floor organic matter and nutrient content following clear cutting in northern hardwoods. Ecology, 62, 41-48.

Wang W,Qiu L, Zu Y, Su D, An J, Wang H, Zheng G, Sun W, Chen X. 2011. Changes in soil organic carbon, nitrogen, pH and bulk density with the development of larch plantations in China. Global Change Biology 17：2657-2676.

Li DJ, Niu SL, Luo YQ (2012) Global patterns of the dynamics of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks following afforestation: a meta-analysis. New Phytologist 195, 172-181.

Mao R, Zeng DH, Hu YL, Li LJ, Yang D (2010) Soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in an age-sequence of poplar stands planted on marginal agricultural land in Northeast China. Plant and Soil, 332, 277-287.

The first one is a old but classific paper. The others is quite new publications on farmland afforestation or afforestation meta analysis.  All of them are on influences on soil function.

If you meant agroforestry systems this book would be helpful:

European Wood-pastures in Transition: A Social-ecological Approach

Even though "plantation forestry" covers more that just plantation on formerly agricultureal land the following textbooks is a good start-up:

WEST, P. W. (2006): Growing Plantation Forests. Berlin, Springer, 304pp.

From the wording of your question, I wonder if you aren't looking for information more closely related to old-field succession rather than plantation establishment.

If so, a good starting point would be:

Cramer, V.A., and R.J. Hobbs (editors). 2007. Old Fields: Dynamics and Restoration of Abandoned Farmland. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 334 p.

May be you can be a bit more specific about what you are looking for?

As mentioned before, this could cover topics from 'afforestation' examples, forest restoration or even silviculture (which can include things like Eucalyptus plantations in agricultural lands in Brazil, etc). Therefore, depending on the specifics of you questions is easier to suggest literature. 

Regards!

Its not that easy to find a book that will include agriculture and forestry at the same time in these dates. But you can check a book by Julian Evans, Third Edition on Plantation Forestry in the Tropics. This book highlights historical issues and current developments in planting trees. If you plantation is at the larger scale can assist in how to engage the stakeholder and manage your plantation in sustainable way. 

There are many anecdotal descriptive papers on specific locations. A key question whether you are looking at afforestation/ reforestation or "natural" processes (eg old- field abandonment whether due to the extermination of the natives or a migration of the population due to a change in the economy).

If natural look in general look for primary succession in good stand dynamics texts, eg by Bruce Larson and Chad Oliver. 

The Book authored by Dr K G Tejwani may be good source of information