92 



SECTION III. 



ATTEMPT TO SUGGEST A NEW THEORY, OR PRINCIPLE 

 OF THE ART. 



F'roim the cursory view which has been given, of the rise 

 and progress of transplanting, from the earhest times down 

 to the present, it appears, notwithstanding the objections of 

 some ingenious men, that it is an art w^orthy of an attentive 

 cultivation ; and that, if it could be established on principles, 

 founded in nature, and confirmed by experience, it might, 

 within a short period, become extensively useful. 



The best informed phytologist, who has treated the sub- 

 ject, is the judicious Miller, the author of the Gardener's and 

 Botanist's Dictionary ; a work, which, in the enlarged edition 

 of Professor Martyn of Cambridge, should be dihgently stu- 

 died by every planter of education. On the art in question 

 this accurate observer has no formal disquisition ; but in the 

 article " Planting," he has introduced some strictures on the 

 practice of removing large trees, as it was in his time preva- 

 lent, and some general objections to the art itself, which are 

 deserving of attention. These, then, it would be proper to 

 consider in the outset, before we proceed to inquire respecting 

 the improvement of the art. His main objection to the then 

 existing system (which, as we have seen in the foregoing 

 section, is precisely that of modern planters) is that the lop 

 ping or mutilating the tops and side-branches of trees, and 

 still more the decapitating of them, is utterly destructive of 

 their health and growth ; and that. Avhatever other advanta- 



