44 



It if^ a subject of regret that the art of planting in Britain 

 has not hitherto been cultivated on principles of science. It 

 seems surprising that the nation, to which the world is prin- 

 cipally indebted for the application of physiology and chemis- 

 try to agriculture, should never have thought of applying 

 those sciences to wood, and the Britisli planters should still 

 be as completely unacciuainted with the nature and anatomy 

 of plants, as they were in the days of Evelyn and Cooke. In 

 fact, their ignorance would seem portentous and incredible, 

 were it not proved by daily experience.* Thus planting is 

 still regarded by many as a secondary branch of horticulture, 

 unworthy of being separately treated, or attentively studied. 

 By the institution of societies, where experiments are care- 

 fully recorded, and general conclusions deduced from well- 

 authenticated facts, agriculture, within the last thirty years, 

 has assumed a more regular form and character ; and horti- 

 culture, by the same laudable means, promises ere long to 

 rise to the rank of this her elder sister. We may, therefore, 

 reasonably expect, that the time is not far distant, when 

 arboriculture, being of the same family, will at length share 

 the same distinction ; that it will be taken out of ignorant 

 hands, and engage the attention of the ingenious, and the 

 scientific. It is to our southern neighbours that we have 

 been indebted for our knowledge of most of the useful and 

 elegant arts. Let us, in this instance, take the lead ourselves ; 

 and, by instituting a society for the improvement of 

 ARBORICULTURE EXCLUSIVELY, endcavour, in that depart- 

 ment, to repay them some portion of those weighty obligations. 



It must be acknowledged by every one, who has attended 

 to the subject, that arboriculture is the art the most truly neg- 

 lected in our whole rural management, and that it can never 

 flourish, unless it be studied as a separate profession. 

 Standing, as it certainly does in this country, next in rank 



*NoTE I. 



