

FRAGMENT XV. 



ON 



PLANTING SINGLE TREES. 





TO, THE RIGHT HON. LORD ERSKINE, $c. 4 



MY LORD, 



annoy 



th 



sun, 



In answer to your Lordship's query, I will begin 

 by stating it in your own words, because it is probable you 

 have kept no copy of them, and I have no recollection of having 

 made the remark you record, although I fully confirm it. 



Your letter says, " I have followed your advice in the shel- 

 " ter given to my Cottage, without sacrificing my prospect; and 

 " you said very truly, that when a man is 

 " wind, or dust, he puts his hand near his face, and does not 

 " depend on distant shelter." 



I then recommended you to plant only beech, and now you 

 ask if there may be added a few cedars of Lebanon, pineaster, 

 and silver firs. This I must answer by the help of a sketch, to 

 plain; what is so obvious when explained; that I consider it 

 only as a proof that the most enlightened minds will sometimes 

 hesitate on subjects which they have not studied with the eyes 





of a Painter and Landscape Gardener: the former sees things 

 as they are, the latter as they will be. Indeed I have frequently 

 observed that, in planting a tree, few persons consider the future 





K 



