8 INTRODUCTION. 



conclusion to which I have been brought, and 

 every inference that I have drawn, has had its 

 origin in actual experience. 



To practical men, and more particularly still, 

 to such practical men as are like myself to use a 

 homely phrase more at home in a Wood or Plan- 

 tation than any where else I need not make more 

 than a general reference to what they daily see, in 

 proof of the "mismanagement" which I intend to 

 show, but as to the Proprietors it surely must be 

 otherwise. They cannot, one would suppose, be at 

 all aware of the fact, that one part, and that a most 

 interesting and valuable part, of their property, is 

 so mismanaged as to call loudly for an immediate 

 remedy ! I affirm, however, without hesitation, that 

 while Agriculture has made rapid strides in the 

 march of improvement, and while that first of all 

 improvements in Agriculture, Draining (although 

 as yet but very imperfectly understood, and, in a 

 very serious number of cases, very ill done) has 

 been extensively attended to while the adaptation 

 of Manures (although science has yet much to do, 

 and much to teach us, on this point) has been 

 carried to such an extent, as is unparalleled in 



