vin 



The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



been the only hunting ground. To this was now added in striking contrast the 

 resources of the North American forests. 



In the eighteenth century the practice of planting foreign trees became in some 

 degree a fashion amongst wealthy landowners, though still mainly for ornament. 

 This was due in large measure to the example of Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, 

 who formed a large collection at Whitton. After his death in 1 762 all that were 

 removable were transferred to Kew, where an Arboretum had been commenced 

 by the Princess Dowager of Wales. 



An intelligent taste for arboriculture was at any rate for a time firmly established. 

 Those who care to trace its further history more in detail will find abundant 

 information in Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, a work which, 

 though published more than half a century ago, must always remain indispensable 

 to any student of the subject. Parks and pleasure grounds throughout the country 

 were stocked with specimens of new and interesting trees. And though often 

 neglected and even forgotten, we now possess a wealth of examples which have 

 attained adult development. Loudon catalogued with indefatigable industry every 

 tree or shrub known to be tolerant of the climate of the British Isles. It might have 

 been thought that this laborious undertaking would have excited a new interest in 

 planting. But it began to languish with the beginning of the last century, and 

 Loudon's labours from their very completeness, perhaps, deterred many from engag- 

 ing in an occupation where more than moderate success would seem costly and labori- 

 ous, and anything beyond almost unattainable. In 1845 ^ National Arboretum 

 was projected at Kew, and commenced the following year on a plan prepared by 

 W. A. Nesfield. 



The latter half of the last century saw a remarkable development of open-air 

 horticulture. In so far as this included woody plants, it was limited to shrubs. 

 Broad-leaved trees were little cared for. The rarer kinds were little in request, and 

 those that were planted were too often drawn from the ill-named stock of some 

 convenient nursery. The neglect was increased when conifers became a fashion. 

 This led, no doubt, to many fine Pinetums being planted, the interest and importance 

 of which will increase with age. But it led also to much unconsidered and scattered 

 planting of trees which, attractive enough in a juvenile state, are often less sightly as 

 they grow older, and can never blend with their broad-leaved neighbours into stately 

 umbrageous masses. 



If the planting of broad-leaved trees as distinguished from conifers has for the 

 moment fallen into neglect, we still inherit the results of the labours of our pre- 

 decessors. The British Isles for the last two centuries have, in fact, been the seat 

 of an experiment in arboriculture without parallel elsewhere. And the very neglect 

 into which tree-planting has fallen, paradoxical as it may seem, adds to the interest 

 and value of the experiment. For the trees that have come down to us from the 



