!28 



traveller's joy \vc sliall find in hollows like 

 network, the hazel will exhibit an appear- 

 ance of soundness, but in the oak will be 

 seen almost solidity. Let the speculative 

 pruner take a view of this])icture, and ask 

 himself if he has sufficiently studied this 

 subject to imitate nature, by leaving just so 

 much as is necessary to form fruit, but to 

 be cautious at the same time of })reventing 

 a waste of so precious a material, which 

 is thus so curiously husbanded by nature 

 itself. When this theory is fairly under- 

 stood, we shall be enabled to prune, 

 or in other words, to give a check to 

 luxuriant growth, and to assist vegetation 

 with propriety. 



It may not be altogether foreign to the 

 present subject to contemplate that de- 

 preciation in abilities of a number of 

 gardeners, which has so much lessened 

 the respectability of that useful set of 

 men. To obtain the knowledge neces- 

 sary for a gardener requires the exeirtions 

 of an ingenious mind for many years, as 

 well as that of an industrious and active 

 body, for without great mental and bodily 



