Ixx INTRODUCTION 



larch plantations being largely extended, because it was said 

 that l a tree which, if the oak should fail, would build navies, 

 and if the forests of Livonia or Norway or Canada were 

 exhausted, would build cities, is an acquisition to this island 

 almost without a parallel. ' And it still is one of the most 

 valuable of our woodland trees, despite the cankerous fungus- 

 disease which has certainly been (indirectly) due in no small 

 degree to injudicious planting in pure woods on unsuitable 

 soils and situations. 



This Quarterly Review article of 1813 probably did quite 

 as much to stimulate planting throughout Great Britain as 

 the Sylva itself had previously done ; but as Evelyn's classic 

 formed the text for the exhortation, the beneficial effects must 

 of course in great part be ascribed to his influence. 



A few years later, the Quarterly Review in an article on 

 Evelyn's Memoirs (April, 1 8 1 8), again sings the well-deserved 

 praise of his influence on British Arboriculture. ' The greater 

 part of the woods, which were raised in consequence of 

 Evelyn's writings, have been cut down : the oaks have borne 

 the British flag to seas and countries which were undiscovered 

 when they were planted, and generation after generation has 

 been coffined in the elms. The trees of his age, which may 

 yet be standing, are verging fast toward their decay and 

 dissolution : but his name is fresh in the land, and his 

 reputation, like the trees of an Indian Paradise, exists and 

 will continue to exist in full strength and beauty, uninjured 

 by the course of time. 



Thrones fall and Dynasties are changed : 



Empires decay and sink 



Beneath their own unwieldy weight ; 



Dominion passeth like a cloud away. 



The imperishable mind 



Survives all meaner things. 



No change of fashion, no alteration of taste, no revolutions 

 of science have impaired or can impair his celebrity. ' 



Another of the celebrated Quarterly Review articles on 

 Forestry is that On Planting Waste Lands (October, 1827) ; 

 and even though it was Robert Monteath's Forester s Guide 

 and Profitable Planter which furnished the peg for a discourse 



