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year last mentioned, I removed, to an exi)osed situation in the park, a 

 few ol' the oaks and beeches, from the centre of the wood, where the 

 warmtli was the greatest, and wlicre they had begun to he drawn up ; 

 and I am persuaded, that, in ten or twelve years more, the former pro- 

 perties will return, and be as fully developed, aa they were in the begin- - 

 ning. 



In 1809, I took two fine sycamores, about five-and-twenty feet high, 

 amply provided with the protecting properties, and fitted for situations 

 of the greatest exposure, and removed them into the centre of a close 

 wood. Being well sujiplied with roots, they were soon established in 

 the ground, and began to push vigorously towards the light. Their 

 stems were speedily elongated ; their bark became smoother ; their 

 side-branches more slender, and thinner in spray and foliage ; and by 

 1816, that is, after seven years, they could scarcely be recognised as 

 the same plants. Soon after the fall of that season, I once more trans- 

 ferred them to the open field. Here, although they carried a good leaf, 

 they appeared for some time altogether stationary in their progress, as 

 wcis to be expected. In the absence of the shelter and warmth, which 

 they had so long experienced, they could not at once generate provisions 

 to enable them to resist the cold ; but in consonance to that law of na- 

 ture, by which " plants as well as animals accommodate themselves to 

 the circumstances in which they are placed," they began gradually but 

 slowly to generate them ; so that it was only in 1824, that I observed 

 the trees to display any decided symptoms of induration of bark, in- 

 crease of roots, stoutness of stem, and closeness of ramification, wliich 

 constitute such provisions ; and it is evident, that it will require some 

 years more, to effect a complete renovation of their former character. 

 From this short account, we may perceive, that while trees retain 

 their full vigour, that is, while they continue in a rapidly progressive 

 state, they may be made alternately to assume or lay aside those pro- 

 perties, which best fit them for removal. Moreover we sec, that, as 

 vegetation is always greatly more active in shelter than in exposure, 

 the properties just now mentioned, that is, the protecting properties, are 

 far more slowly obtained or reassumed, than the non-protecting. From 

 such facts and experiments, therefore, as well as from analogy, we are 

 warranted to conclude, that the doctrine held forth in the text is fully 

 confirmed, namely, that, "by the law of nature, shelter and exposure, 

 that is, heat and cold, have the power aUke of dimhiishing or increasing, 

 of bestowing or taking away, what may be called the protecting pro- 

 perties." 



