150 



young dog or a horse, until, by a proper degree of warmth 

 and care, its constitution were confirmed, and it had acquired 

 strength to resist cold, and other ills and accidents. A 

 certain portion of heat, that is, of shelter, is in the very same 

 way indispensable to trees during infancy, in order that they 

 may grow with freedom, so that, when their organs are ma- 

 tured, and their strength properly established, they may 

 withstand the elements in open exposures. Hence, to set 

 them out prematurely, is to a certainty to paralyze their en- 

 ergies, and check the development of their parts. 



The intelligent reader, I have no doubt, w ill be pleased to 

 find, how clear and full an illustration of this doctrine was 

 afforded, by the close plantations of the gentleman just now 

 mentioned. It so happened, when he planted the open and 

 exposed parts of his park, with small trees from the nursery- 

 ground, as already stated, that at the same time, and wath a 

 part of the same plants, he executed a considerable stretch of 

 the adjoining plantations. When I examined the latter, the 

 trees were, for the most part, about thirty and five-and-thirty 

 feet high, and in a state of the most perfect health. They 

 had been drawm up and protected, in the warm and kindly 

 atmosphere generated by close woods. The outside rows 

 had acquired to a certain degree the protecting properties, 

 and were nearly fit for removal ; and the whole exhibited a 

 striking contrast to thq^iminutive and stunted plants in the 

 adjoining park, many of which, instead of five-and-thirty 

 feet, had not grown above as many inches, from the time 

 they were set out ! 



It is indubitable, that one and all of these radical errors in 

 practice, into whicli planters fall, originate mainly in a want 

 of science to regulate it, and of a competent knowledge of the 

 history and properties of woody plants. General planting, as 

 well as every particular department of the art, as has been 

 already noticed, must depend for its success on scientific prin- 

 ciples. Since the first publication of this Essay, it is pleasing 



