444 T^l''^ Gardener's New Director. 

 firll year after they were tranfplanted, thofe which held 

 pullied pretty vigoroufly, the fecond year they grew 

 weakly, and the third year they languished very much. 

 The trees that lufi'ered mofl:, were thofe that were oidefl 

 when tranfplanted. I now perceived that their roots had 

 not {Irengih enou[<h to fupport their heads, nor thefhoots 

 they had made the firft year alter tranlplanting. This 

 determined me to cut them down; and I performed the 

 like operation upon the fmaliefl ones. This firfl: cutting 

 recovered my tiees for the fiifl two years; but in the 

 third I perceived a great diminution in their growth, 

 which I attributed to the inclemency of the feafon ; but 

 I foon perceived this was not the caufe of their decay; 

 for the two years after that I left them uncut, they fliil 

 continued diminifliing in growth, which determined me 

 to cut them down a fecond time, without which I {hould 

 have lofl all my trees ; for having left iome uncut a fe- 

 cond time to try theni^ thefe I entirely lofl:. The foil 

 in which I planted thefe trees had not been cultivated 

 for the fpace of twenty years before, and. it is now four- 

 teen years fince I cut my plants, and their leaves are as 

 green, and their flioots as vigorous as if they were in a 

 nurfery-bed, which is a certain proof, that the cutting 

 down of trees is the befl culture they can have in what- 

 ever foil they grow, and is the fureft method to efta- 

 blifli their roots, to vvljich every planter fhould princi- 

 pally attend. 



The authors who treat of agriculture, particularly 

 thofe who treat of the planting woods or forefls for pro- 

 iil, or of planting trees in other forms for pleafure, are 

 often miflaken in their thoughts on this fubie<£t. Many 

 of them dire61 to take care of the tops of young plants, 

 in order to have a gieat forefl: ol trees in good order. 

 This advice may be good in particular cafes ; but it is 

 generally true, and I can afiure my readers, from many 

 repeated experiments, that there is no method fo certain 

 to make trees have flrong, lively, and flreight ftems, as 

 to cut them once or twice, if required, down to the 

 ground, as has been direded; and I have often examined 

 the flems of trees which have been raifed from feeds, 

 with the greatefl care, and found that they have never 

 been fo flrong, fo healthy, and fo vigorous, as ilems of 



the 



