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recourse to close woods and plantations, for the supply of 

 subjects for removal. Perhaps there is no planter, who in 

 the beginning has not fallen into this mistake, before he has 

 had sufficient time to attend to the effects of heat and cold 

 on the growth of wood. Allured by the fine forms of trees 

 so trained, by the tallness of their stems, the beauty of their 

 bark, and their general appearance of health and strength, 

 we naturally form the wish to transfer them to the lawn, or 

 open park : but we should reflect, that how much soever 

 they may please the eye, there are no properties so unfit as 

 these for this degree of exposure, as they are generated solely 

 by warmth and shelter. As well might we bring forth the 

 native of the burning plains of Asia or Africa, and in the 

 light attire of those tropical climates, expect him to endure 

 a British winter. Either the facts respecting exposed and 

 sheltered wood, as above stated, are incorrect and unfounded, 

 or nature must be supposed to act in contradiction to herself, 

 if she sanctioned such incongruities. Yet ninety-nine times 

 in a hundred, the success of an art, which, if rightly under- 

 stood, would be interesting to many, is fairly marred by this 

 erroneous practice. Nor are these the errors of youth or 

 inexperience. Two of our best informed writers, Boutcher 

 and Marshall, as we have aheady seen, regard the art as 

 mainly apphcable to " the thinning of nurseries or planta- 

 tions," and recommend it accordingly for that purpose. 



It is not necessary to dwell long on so unhappy a system 

 of selection. The trees, being tiansferred to a climate, colder 

 by several degrees than that in which they were trained, 

 and with the peculiar conditions and properties adapted to 

 the latter, internally decline. The usual lightening or mu- 

 tilating of the tops affords no alleviation or remedy from 

 without. In such a situation, the mechanical effect of wind 

 would be sufficient of itself, without any other cause, to 

 ensure their miscarriage. Yet, as they carry leaf, and show 

 no immediate symptoms of decay in the outset, their ultimate. 



