331 



U, on visiting the Botanic Garden in June, 1823, wlien the oldest of the 

 trees had not been longer than a twelvemonth in the ground ; and this 

 effort appeared the more admirable from the circumstance, of which, I 

 was at tlie same time informed, that only one, or two at most, had died 

 in the first season. On visiting the garden again in July, 1827, I was 

 both pleased and surprised to observe, that the more delicate plants, 

 such as the magnolia, the perfumed cherry, the arbutus, &c. had suc- 

 ceeded the best ; which showed the extraordinary care and judgment, 

 with which, on account of shelter, they had been massed up with 

 others, and also the extraordinary attention, which had been bestowed 

 upon them afterwards. Of the arbutus there is a noble specimen, 

 supposed to be one of the largest in Britain. 



The ordinary forest-trees, on the other hand, such as the lime, the 

 birch, and the walnut, appeared by no means so successful, although 

 powerfully supported with cordage, as described in the text ; but they 

 were placed in more exposed situations, and seemed less in possession 

 of the Protecting Properties. This conjecture was confirmed to me by 

 the intelligent Mr. Macnab, who stated, among other things, that in the 

 tallest of these trees, which were from seven-and-thirty to three-and 

 forty feet high, the roots did not exceed three-and-a-half or four feet in 

 length ; a style of roots, as I observed to him, wholly inadequate to 

 nourish or support plants of a far smaller size. For the reasons, there- 

 fore, given in Section V. page 144 of the present work, the ingenious 

 professor must wait with patience, " until the deficiency in these pro- 

 perties be made up." But I wish distinctly to repeat what is mentioned 

 in the text, that I consider Dr. Graham as beyond comparison the ablest, 

 the most ingenious, and the most successful horticultural transplanter 

 in Britain, or perhaps in Europe ; and I am certain, that he would ren- 

 der an important service to all others, who may be placed in similar 

 circumstances, were he to publish an account of the particular process 

 which he followed, on this interesting occasion. 



It will, however, immediately occur to every reflecting planter, that, 

 for the causes assigned in the text, and particularly at pages 98 and 99, 

 Horticultural Transplanting and Transplanting in the Park 

 are processes extremely different from each other, as hothouse culture 

 is from the culture of husbandry in the open field. Had I thought it 

 worth while, I might have stated in the text, and stated with perfect 

 truth, that the forest-trees in the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh could 

 not have stood four-and-twenty hours in the Park here, particularly 

 about the equinox ; and that the style of success, attending them where 

 they do stand, seems to show, that, up to the beginning of the present 



