1885.] TREE-GROWING A XI) FORESTRY. 451 



ISTaucy in France, and since then at Cooper's Hill, near London, and 

 where now it was suggested, and where he hoped it might be per- 

 manently located, at Edinburgh. There was a threefold division 

 nnder which, adopting his own practical experience, he wonld treat 

 the snbject of this evening — namely, trees as grown solely for orna- 

 ment, trees as grown for shelter and ornament, and trees as grown 

 for profit. In planting, great care was required in the selection of 

 plants to suit the situation and climate, and they must also be 

 guided in this matter by the nltimate object they had in view, 

 whether ornament, shelter, or profit. In the case of ornamental 

 trees, they must be planted so as always to leave plenty of space 

 around them, and must never he allowed to touch each other. He 

 had some distrust of foreign evergreen trees for this purpose, but it 

 might be well to mix them with others. What he particularly 

 objected to see in ornamental trees, was the tendency to plant them 

 in avenues or straight lines. He olijected much to such straight lines 

 in planting, for very likely some of the trees forming those straight 

 lines would die, and then there was an end to the uniformity of 

 their straight lines ; for the young trees they had to plant to fill up 

 their places would, as they grew up with the other trees, suggest the 

 idea of dwarfs side by side with giants. They ought to be planted, 

 therefore, not in straight lines, but in groups. In the case of 

 deciduous trees, they must prune without delay, and prune so as not 

 to allow the lower branches to touch the ground. In the case of 

 evergi-eens, they need not prune except against what was called 

 " forking," and in their case the branches might be allowed to touch 

 the ground, as they thus concealed the absence of grass. In dealing 

 with the subject of plantations and woods for shelter, he tliought 

 the golden rule was to ^3/a?ii tMckbj, thin quickly ; and a careful 

 adherence to this system would be a cure for seven-eighths of the 

 bad management in tree-planting. Mr. Eobinson here descril^ed 

 the French mode of planting, pruning, thinning, and especially that 

 of check-pruning. Care must always be taken in thinning to retain 

 the tree which stands in the right place, and not to leave too large 

 an interval at first, but to proceed upon the principle of exposure by 

 degrees. For such purposes trees should be planted in groups of 

 the same kind — as those of the same kind grew better near each 

 other — in a wind those of the same kind were more apt to sway or 

 swing in the same direction, and therefore not so likely to l)atter or 

 break off their buds by the collision of their branches, and were 

 also thus better suited to admit light, which was so essentially 

 necessary for the right growth of a tree. For shelter, then, let them 

 plant groups or clumps of Scotch firs, spruces, Austrians, ashes, 

 sycamores, chestnuts, and limes. Trees in hedgerows he considered 



