77 



paring their sap and increasing their elevation and 

 volume. The top and lateral branches form the 

 great instrument for this object ; the tip of every 

 branch seems to attract the sap to it upwards, in 

 proportion to its tendency to elevation, though it 

 may be preternatu rally favoured for a little by the 

 crowding of the trees, cannot ultimately proceed 

 with that certainty, uniformity, and advantage of 

 general growth, which confining on the plant its due 

 proportions of breadth and stomach, would enable it 

 to reach. In fact, the proceeding here censured 

 seems to be as absurd as to attempt raising abundant 

 crops of potatoes by depriving the plants of their 

 branches, save the central stems ; or feeding an ox 

 by means of taking measures for diminishing the ca- 

 pacity of his stomach, or the membranes of his lungs, 

 when the juices furnished by the stomach are exposed 

 under due precautions to the action of the different 

 grasses, under the excitement of a particular tem- 

 perature." 



I have been in company with some English proprie- 

 tors of woods who argued, that Scotch firs will not 

 thrive and grow to any size, nor become good tim- 

 ber ; this, however, shows that all such have never 

 seen the Highlands of Scotland. There is on the 

 hill of Dunequach, and on some of the hills of Glen- 

 shira, and Glenaira, estate of Inverary, the property 

 of his Grace the Duke of Argyle, Scotch firs of the 

 greatest magnitude, and exposed to the storm from 

 all quarters, growing many hundreds of feet above 

 the level of the sea ; many of these trees have from 

 40 to 60 feet of a trunk, and contain 100 solid feet 

 of timber, equal to the best Memel timber ; there are 



