during the Autumn of the Ymr 1830. 297 



unconnected observations without a reference to the success 

 in this art of Mr. Paxton, gardener to His Grace the Duke of 

 Devonshire, at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. We all recollect 

 to have seen in the English newspapers an account of the 

 removal of an enormous weeping ash, which was conveyed 

 for a great many miles by the united strength of a number of 

 men and horses ; that it was necessary to remove the turnpikes 

 along the line of road by which it was brought to Chats- 

 worth ; and that a breach had to be made in the demesne 

 wall, the gate being too small to admit it. Nor was this 

 account exaggerated. The tree was planted, and that, too, in 

 an unfavourable situation (the area of a wing of the palace) ; 

 yet it is thriving, having made shoots 1 2 in. long the fii'st sea- 

 son. Mr. Paxton does not approve of the " retaining basin " 

 formed by Sir Henry Steuart for supporting trees ; his reason 

 is, that, in a retentive soil particularly, it is liable to retain 

 water about the roots, to the manifest injury of the tree. To 

 obviate this inconvenience, he fastens three strong stakes in 

 the ground, in the angles of an equilateral triangle ; and, 

 having spread out the roots, lays three pieces of wood across 

 them ; which pieces, on being made fast to the strong perpen- 

 dicular stakes, are found most effective in retaining the tree 

 in an upright position. In this way Mr. Paxton has trans- 

 planted some trees of great magnitude ; one, in particular, 

 which was removed about five years ago, and which was then 

 near a century old, though in an exposed situation, has " stood 

 the pelting of the pitiless storm." 



All the persons whose operations I have taken the liberty to 

 notice have uniformly removed large trees on the " preserv- 

 ative system." But, after all, the removal of large trees, 

 though interesting, is comparatively an unimportant branch of 

 arboriculture. With much greater satisfaction should I, had 

 I been fortunate enough to discover it, hold up, for the example 

 of the proprietors of wooded lands in Ireland, a perfectly cor- 

 rect system of managing woods and plantations intended solely 

 for profit ; but this, near as some of the approximations were 

 to it, I did not observe : and, were it not that I should render 

 myself liable to the charge of presumption, I would earnestly 

 reiterate the advice of Sir Henry Steuart, by recommending 

 to the consideration of the enlightened proprietors of wooded 

 lands in Scotland the formation of a society which shall have 

 for its objects the advancement of arboricultural science only. 

 Such a society, conducted on the model of the Highland So- 

 ciety, and encouraged, as no doubt it would be in that highly 

 improved countr}', could not fail to be productive of great and 

 permanent utility. 



