6 INTRODUCTION. 



his own resources. To provide him therefore 

 with healthful employment, at such a time, and 

 under such circumstances, will tend more than 

 any thing else can do, to lessen the difficulty and 

 danger of the transition from the old to the new 

 law, and to mitigate the perhaps necessary seve- 

 rity of the provisions of the latter. . 



Before I proceed any further I would state, that 

 I shall not attempt any thing like a systematic 

 course, nor shall I confine myself to a scientific 

 arrangement of my subjects : nor again, shall I 

 trouble myself about the technical names of the 

 several Trees which I may have to mention : nor, 

 lastly, is it my intention to aim at elegance of 

 composition. I do not write to establish a literary 

 reputation, well knowing that to such an object 

 I am unequal, and that if it were otherwise, there 

 is a want of adaptation in my subject ; but I wish 

 to be understood as addressing myself to those 

 who, not being themselves practically acquainted 

 with the subjects here treated of, are not unwilling 

 to listen to the opinions which I have formed, and 

 profit by the experience which I have derived 

 from close and extensive observation, while myself 



