16 



not only as to the method, but the expe- 

 diency of Pruning at all. We adduce a 

 few examples. 



Evelyn, the honest and eloquent advo- 

 cate of planting, whose name can never 

 be mentioned without the highest degree 

 of respest, by any man who is attached to 

 its interests, falls unluckily into the ge- 

 neral error ; for though he extols Pruning 

 highly, he is sometimes contradictory, 

 and treats it in the detail too generally 

 and loosely. 



It is of little use to tell a man totally ig- 

 norant of such subjects, that it "is by the 

 " discreet leaving the Side Boughs in con- 

 ** venient places, sparing the smaller, and 

 " taking away the bigger, that you may ad- 

 " vance a tree to what determined height 

 " you desire,'' (which is by far the best hint 

 I have found in him or any author upon 

 the subject;) as he advances no reason 

 upon which it is founded. Indeed, if he 



