the mass from its former situation are now called forth to lift it from the platform, and let it down into the new pit. The planting, we shall suppose, is an easy business, as there are few roots to be distributed in the ground; so that little remains to be done but to fill in the earth, which finishes the process. As to the propping or supporting of the tree, which in exposed situations sometimes defies the utmost diligence and ingenuity, it involves an additional item for wood or ropes, and labour, and is essential to be attended to for two years at least. However, should the plant be severely mutilated, and reduced to nearly a pollard, the lever furnished by the stem is sometimes unable to overcome the more ponderous mass of soil and roots; and the necessity of propping is in such cases superseded by the superior weight of this load, and of the earth superinduced on it.

This, I imagine, or something similar to this, making a fair allowance for differences in persons, places, and circumstances, may convey a tolerable idea of the business of transplanting, as practised in England for nearly two centuries, and also in those districts of Scotland in which the English method is still followed. In some districts one species of machinery may be employed, and another in others. Some planters may be more, and some less skilful, and less accurate in their practice; but physical force throughout, without phytological principle to guide the process, together with the labour of many hands, and the strength of ponderous implements, form the general characteristics of this species of work. I have it from gentlemen of high respectability, that from £2 to £5 is considered as no unusual or exorbitant sum to lay out for the removal of a tree of any size; and even £10 and £15 have been many times paid.

If there be any error or exaggeration in this cursory

view of the labour and cost of such work, as it is now carried on in most parts of Britain, I entreat that the mistatement may not be considered as intentional; and it is, of course, open to the candid correction of those who possess superior information. I have no desire to magnify the merits of my own system at the expense of others, which have so long been held in general esteem. But if the impartial reader will compare it with the simple and rapid, but systematic field-practice, and still more simple machinery, which have been delineated above at so much length, I trust it will not be too much to say that he will find the expense of transplanting to be reduced by the PRESERVATIVE method, in any case to the one-half, and in many cases to a third and a fourth part of its present

amount.

Having now, in the course of this Essay, offered what appears to me sufficient, respecting both the theory and the practice of this interesting art, to excite the public attention, I shall beg leave to conclude with one remark. The art of giving immediate effect to wood, although, as I should venture to hope, it is now established on FIXED PRINCIPLES, will be generally cultivated, or utterly neglected, as the revolutions in science or the caprice of fashion may direct. But whatever be its ill fortune as a theory, whether it be condemned as fanciful or rejected as useless, I may venture to say that it will not fail of success from the extravagant expense that attends the practice.

SECTION XII.

OF THE PRINCIPAL FOREST TREES. THE OAK.

ALL trees are fit or proper for being transplanted which will thrive, and come to maturity, in the soil and climate in which that operation is intended to be performed. Even the most delicate and rarest exotics, as we have seen above, may become the subjects of horticultural transplantation. But the main object at present is to endeavour to ascertain what are the species of forest trees that can be successfully removed in a full-grown state, and which, when removed, will best give immediate shelter to our fields, and effect and ornament to our parks and pleasure-grounds.

For this purpose, it is evident that something more than a mere enumeration must be given for the information of the planter. No man can work with effect, unless he in some degree understands both the use of his implements and the nature of his materials; and to that knowledge should be added a competent idea of the field on which he has to operate. It is about two centuries since planting began to be successfully practised to any extent and written upon in England; and it is about half that time since it attracted the notice of the nobility and gentry of this kingdom. Yet it is surprising, in the present day, when almost every country gentleman is a planter, how little practical knowledge prevails upon the subject. A gentleman in general, in such matters, sees

through the eyes and hears through the ears of his gardener. The gardener knows no more of trees than what he cursorily picks up during a twelvemonth, or two at the most, spent in the nursery-gardens of Edinburgh or Glasgow; so that it is truly "the blind leading the blind" in this interesting branch of rural economy.

It seems, therefore, to be a matter of some moment, not only to the transplanting art, but to that of planting in general, to inquire a little in this place into the history, properties, and uses of the best known foresttrees, as they are adapted to the climate of Britain. Few persons have the leisure or the industry to ransack the voluminous treatises of Cook and Evelyn, Miller, Hanbury, Marshall and others; and fewer still are enabled to discriminate between what is solid and superficial, practical or fanciful, in those treatises; or to detect the errors or idle traditions which one writer, without inquiry, too frequently copies from another.

In the following compressed view of the nature of forest trees, freed from the rubbish of technical discussion on the one hand, and the detailed operations of the nurseryman on the other, the country gentleman will, perhaps, find a useful manual. It will give him, within a few pages, the principal facts relating to the subject which lie scattered over many volumes, added to some others which I myself have been able to elicit by considerable practice and observation. Thus he will learn, with little labour, what it is most important for him as a planter to know, both as to the nature and preparation of the soil and the properties of trees. He He may, if he so inclines, obtain the results, without paying the price of experience. With this view, I will proceed to examine in their order our principal forest-trees.* I will shortly describe

* NOTE I.

T

the general character, species, and varieties of each; the properties they possess, useful as well as ornamental; the soil and situation to which they are most suited; pointing out, at the same time, in how far they are worthy of transplantation, or afford facilities for that purpose. First, then, in point of rank and importance stands

THE OAK.

This tree is a native of the temperate latitudes, and is scarcely to be seen under the frigid or torrid zone. It is indigenous to Britain, where it is supposed to attain greater perfection than in any other country, and is found in almost every part of the island.

It is a

It is pleasing to consider, in treating of this noble plant, that it unites at once, in itself, the most remarkable properties-the greatest beauty, the greatest usefulness, and the greatest durability-and for that reason is well entitled to be held as the monarch of the wood. well-known native of almost all parts of Europe and Asia, and of several parts of America. Dr Martyn of Cambridge, in his valuable edition of Miller's Dictionary, enumerates in all six-and-twenty different species; but, for our present purpose, two British kinds only need be mentioned differing from each other in the two obvious and permanent characters, the fruit and the leaf. these shall be added one American.

Το

I. The upright or stalk-fruited Oak (Quercus robur pedunculata.) Evelyn calls it Q. urbana, and Miller, Q. fæmina. This is the species by far the most common both in England and Scotland and has been termed by some late writers of the former country, the "Pedunculated;" but I prefer the names already known to and recognised by the botanists of England.