96 



Tlip tliiicl uiui last objection is. that transplanted trees do 

 not survive above five or six yeare?, after being so injudiciously 

 removed, as above described, and their boughs mutilated : 

 That, in a particular instance, which Miller quotes, where 

 oaks were so treated, and where they were found to thrive 

 beyond all expectation, in the beginning, they yet died at the 

 end of fifty years ; whereas, according to the characteristic 

 properties of that tree, they should then have been increasing 

 in vigour. To which it may be fairly replied, that the oc- 

 currence of such miscarriages evidently proceeds upon the 

 supposition, that the injiuious practice of lopping the tops and 

 side branches is still to be continued ; when, on the contrary, 

 Ijy an improved practice, as soon as that cause is removed, 

 the evils that flowed from it will be removed in consequence. 

 As to the effects of fifty years growth on transplanted trees, 

 it is not so so easy to speak : But at the place from which 

 these pages are dated, some oaks, beeches, and limes are to 

 be seen, nearly forty years after removal ; and those trees 

 have constantly exhibited progressive vigour in an extraor- 

 dinary degree, and might now be taken for plants raised 

 without removal from the seed. 



Such are the objections against Transplanting, which have 

 been urged by Miller, and which the reputation of the man, 

 not less than the nature of the objections themselves, rendered 

 worthy of particular notice. If we yield to the first objection, 

 which we must do, as being quite conclusive ; if we obviate 

 the second and third, which, I conceive, has been satisfacto- 

 rily done, perhaps we may venture to believe, that there is 

 good ground for suggesting a rational theory of the art, 

 such as probably would have been sanctioned by this intel- 

 ligent phytologist himself, notwithstanding his prejudices, 

 and, what is still more important, has been sanctioned by 

 experience. 



On considering the causes that have hitherto rendered this 

 desirable object abortive, they appear to be of a twofold 



