Lambert's Rural Affairs of Ireland. 219 



terspersed numerous historical notices of fine old trees in various parts 

 of the empire, which are extremely interesting and valuable: and, what is 

 of more consequence, no idle ftmtastic theories, or pompous passages de- 

 scriptive of trifling details in daily operations which are self-evident to a 

 labourer of the meanest capacity, are introduced to swell the number of 

 pages ; but plain common sense pervades each chapter. He writes as if 

 he considered his readers sentient beings; and, when he has pointed out 

 the principle upon which each operation ought to be conducted, leaves the 

 manipular part to the " ignorant and self-sufhcient gardener," or forester, 

 as he very properly ought to do. This brings us to the chapter " Trans- 

 planting Large Trees," and the praise-bespattered " Allanton method." 

 Our author warmly eulogises Sir H. Steuart, and says, that " he has 

 brought about a new era in this department of arboricultural science." It 

 is charitable to suppose that he merely echoes the sentiments of the 

 northern reviewers, who, of all men, are the most accommodating to each 

 other's wants and wishes. " Caw me, caw thee," has worked well for the 

 booksellers for many years, and is now as proverbial in criticism as it for- 

 merly used to be, when it afforded a ready and convenient mode of intro- 

 duction to a mutually useful interchange of civilities. So that, we pre- 

 sume, even under the fearful responsibility of dissenting from the opinions 

 of such " learned " men, to say, that, if this " new era " means any thing 

 new in forestry, we are at issue with them, and will very soon put this 

 claim to originality to the test, by asking one plain question : — Has Sir H. 

 Steuart developed, by this supposed new method, one new, or rather any 

 one imperfectly understood, principle in vegetable physiology ? New prin- 

 ciples there are none; they ever remain the same: let his panegyrists 

 answer the question. When the first man and the first gardener sprang 

 from the hands of his Maker, it is reasonable to suppose that he was en- 

 dued with a sound mind in a healthy body ; and if so, he practised the 

 " Allanton method : " for every gardener with common sense, whether in 

 Paradise, Ciiina, or Japan, England, Scotland, or Ireland, has practised, and 

 must of necessity practise, upon principle, the identical method which has 

 given so much celebrity to Sir H. Steuart; a " learned author," forsooth, 

 who has written a book setting forth as new that which is old, and endea- 

 vouring to raise his character for intelligence by the basest of all means, 

 namely, by slandering and depreciating that of the humble and comparatively 

 defenceless gardener. This is " the unkiudest cut of all." What ! shall 

 such men as M'Nab, Gorrie, Howden, Milne, Munro, Plimley, Burn, 

 Forest, M'lntosh, and a host of others, b^ stigmatised as " ignorant and 

 self-sufficient gardeners ?" If such a foul aspersion had not come from so 

 high and " learned " a quarter, it were too contemptible for notice. What ! 

 and we reiterate the exclamation, shall a race of men be falsely branded 

 with the vulgar epithets of " ignorance and self-sufficiency," who are pro- 

 verbial for intelligence and virtuous integrity ? — a race of men unequalled, 

 in any other profession, for self-denial, and the most unconquerable per- 

 severance in overcoming difficulties, which only men with such indomitable 

 spirits and unwearied industry can surmount; is it meet, is it just, that 

 such men should be scandalised by such a calumny ? 



Awa}', then, with such vituperative and malignant aspersions ; or let them 

 recoil on the head of the original promulgator. Why, we ourselves assisted, 

 some twenty years ago, in transplanting some very large trees in the old 

 Botanic Garden in Leith Walk, under the above-named unassuming, but 

 excellent man, Mr. M'Nab, without ever once thinking that there was any 

 thing wonderful or even surprising in the operation ; for we had frequently 

 seen the same thing done in England before. But Sir Henry and his re- 

 viewers, it seems, not being satisfied with the just renown which the "sons 

 of the mist " have most meritoriously acquired, they must arrogate to 

 themselves the discovery of nearly every improvement, or improved mode 



