ON THE CONSERVATION OF TREES IN BRITAIN. 259 



XXVII. — On the Conservation of Old and Remarkable Trees 

 in Britain. By Kobert Hutchison of Carlowrie, F.E.S.E. 



There is at the present day, in the mind of every true lover of 

 Arboriculture, the same deep-felt and wide-spread desire to preserve 

 the bloom and vigour of life's early years in the hoary and venerated 

 forms of the remarkable trees that fall under his notice, as, in the 

 middle ages, existed in the thoughts and aspirations of the alchemists 

 and physicians who sought, by the aid of the " philosopher's stone," or 

 the " elixir vita;" to ward off the ravages of time or the infirmities 

 of old age, and to restore the fair freshness of youth to the withered 

 form and wrinkled visage, in whose well-marked furrows disease 

 and decay were too plainly, though silently doing their work. In 

 fact, rejuvenescence is the one grand poetic idea of the uni- 

 verse; it pervades all the operations and minutest processes of 

 nature. In the vegetable world, death and decay are everywhere 

 followed by renewal; from the tiniest hedge flower to the giant 

 forest oak, the lesson is taught us of active and incessant decay, 

 counterbalanced by active and ceaseless reconstruction ; so that the 

 earth's surface is maintained, as fair and as verdant in youth as it 

 was when the first morning's sun shone upon creation. 

 « Notwithstanding this compensating and recuperative power in 

 nature, however, the slow growth of most of the species of timber- 

 trees in this country renders the conservation of old and remarkable 

 subjects, whether they be notable on account of their dimensions or 

 appearance, or from some historical association, highly desirable ; and 

 any measures that can be suggested for arresting the ravages of time 

 and age must be valuable, and deserving of the carefid attention of 

 every lover of the picturesque and beautiful. Nor is it wonderful 

 that the desire to preserve fine old individual trees should be so 

 general, when we consider the value which scientific observation, 

 and the experience of many years on continents, such as that of 

 India, have taught us, of the preservation of a due balance of wooded 

 land for the benefit of climate and rainfall. In the present utili- 

 tarian age, we are too apt to overlook the value of plantation ground, 

 and to wish rather that it were devoted to the culture of food- 

 producing cereal crops for the increasing population of our islands ; 

 but this is now shown to be a mistake, and it is clearly demonstrated, 

 that a sufficient area of wooded land is as essential for the due de- 

 velopment of the agricultural economy of any country, as the tillage of 



