79 



In this anxious wish, I appreliend, no planter of taste will 

 now probably concur : neither will he feci disposed to admire 

 the " rationality, naturalness, and elegance" of the device of 

 fashioning the fine heads of the oak, the elm, or the chest- 

 nut, after the manner of the Lombardy poplar, the most 

 formal perhaps, and most unpicturesque of all existing trees. 

 Yet, notwithstanding a few such absurdities, we must can- 

 didly admit, that Marshall was a planter of great skill, and 

 a writer of unquestionable diligence, and, together with the 

 judicious Boutcher, did more to improve the art, than all 

 who had gone before, and probably all who succeeded him. 



If there be any other work in our language, or in any of 

 the languages of modern Europe, in which the art is treated 

 in a j)Grccptive way, or in a way that furnishes any impor- 

 tant materials for bringing its history down to our own times 

 the work has escaped my search. Miller, one of the best 

 arboriculturists and phytologists, that England has ever 

 produced, informs us, that in his time, that is, in the begin- 

 ning and middle of the last century, the transplanting of 

 large trees had come much into fashion in England. Plan- 

 ters, he says, were " in too great haste" to anticipate the slow 

 but certain effects of time ; and by unfortunately adopting 

 the worst possible methods for their practice, they were far 

 less assured of attaining the end they had in view (or, more 

 properly speaking, they were assured of never attaining it,) 

 namely, the speedy acquisition of thriving trees, than if they 

 had begun at once, by raising them from the seed. This 

 failure he mainly attributes to the unnatural and unscien- 

 tific method of lopping or lightening the tops, at the time of 

 removal, which, as he affirms, is destructive alike of the 

 health, and the value of trees. He truly observes, that, were 

 planters fully aware of the doctrine of the circulation of the 

 sap, and the curious anatomy of plants, they would perceive, 

 that a tree is as much nourished by its branches, as by its 

 roots. " For (adds he,) were the same severities practised 



