339 



upright situation ; lor tho winds will havo such power against the 

 branches as to overset the trees, if they are not very stronply supported 

 witii ropes : therefore, this may be brought as an objection to the trans- 

 planting of large trees, rather than in support of a practice which ts so 

 prejudicial to them. And as to the other reason, it has no foundation : 

 for, if large amputations are made at the root, there should not be the 

 same practised on the head ; because the wounded part of the head will 

 imbibe the air at every orifice, to the great prejudice of the tree. 



"Besides this, if we pay any regard to the doctrine of the circulating 

 of the juices in plants, wc must allow, that the heads of the trees are 

 equally useful to nourish the roots, as the roots are to the heads ; so that, 

 if there is a waste of sap, both at the top and bottom of the trees, it must 

 weaken them in proportion. For whoever will be at the trouble to try 

 the experiment on two trees of equal age and health, and cut the 

 branches off from one, and leave them upon the other at the time of 

 transplanting, if the latter is well secured from blowing down, it will be 

 found to succeed much better than the other. Or, if the same thing is 

 practised upon two trees left standing, the tree, whose branches are cut 

 off, will not 7nake half the progress of the other, nor will the stem in- 

 crease in its bulk half so fast. Therefore, where trees are transplanted 

 young, there will be no necessity for using this unnatural amputation, 

 and the success of these plantations will always give pleasure to the 

 owner." — Gardener's and Botanist's Diction, in voc. " Planting." 



I have particular satisfaction in quoting these sentiments from the 

 great work of Miller, and I have little doubt of their being perused with 

 equal satisfaction, by the discerning reader. In fact, no advocate of the 

 system, which is attempted to be established in this Essay, could have 

 given this material part of its principles with greater force and truth. It 

 clearly shows, that, if arboricultural science, in respect to this art, had 

 not been stationary for a century in England, the giving Immediate 

 Effect to Wood, instead of being, as it now is, a rude and uncertain prac- 

 tice, would long since have risen to the rank of a regular art, justly 

 esteemed, and as generally cultivated. 



Note III. Page 98. 



According to the best late phytologists, water is an agent as necessary 

 to the development of vegetable life, as it seems to be a constituent of 

 vegetable organization. A dry seed does not act on the surrounding air, 

 until it has imbibed water. Water is likewise the vehicle, by which 



