352 



science arc requisite ; because, as branches are just as necessary to the 

 nourishment of the tree as roots (namely, in elaborating by means ol" 

 their loaves, and carrying down to the stem the descending sap), so, if 

 they be retrenched to excess, the nourishment of the tree must be 

 checked; or it may happen, although you succeed in advancing the 

 hulk of the wood, that you may very sensibly deteriorate its quality, 

 and consequently its value. 



With a view to establish a proper system of pruning, Mr. William 

 Pontey, an intelligent nurseryman and planter of Huddersfield, in 1806, 

 published a treatise, entitled, "The Forest Pruner, or Timber-Owner's 

 Assistant ;" and the simplicity of the system there delineated, not less 

 than its merit, soon contributed to bring it into very general repute. 

 But, if the truth must be spoken, I fear, that it has done more injury, 

 as well as more good to the Woods of Britain, than any other work, 

 that has appeared within a century. Great good it has unquestionably 

 done, wherever the system it recommends has been cautiously modified 

 and controlled by science ; and injury as certainly, where the instructions 

 of the author have been literally followed out. The radical error of 

 Pontey lay in this ; that having once discovered, by cutting away the 

 side-branches, that the stem was capable of being elongated, and its 

 bulk in certain cases increased, he naturally enough thought, that too 

 many side-branches could not be cut away. But let any one, acquainted 

 with phytological science, or the anatomy of plants, only cast his eye 

 on the frontispiece of that Treatise, which furnishes a specimen of the 

 art of pruning, as approved and practised by the author ; and to such a 

 person no more needs be said on the subject. Here he will perceive the 

 delineation of an immense tree, by name " the Woburn Beech," belonging 

 to the Duke of Bedford, and growing at that place ; a tree more than 

 seventy feet in height, z.nA pruned up to fifty from the ground, without 

 a twig or a branch ; and yet this great sweeping brush is held forth as 

 an example of perfect pruning, and such as is calculated to increase 

 the value, as well as the weight of the wood ! See Forest Pruner, 

 p. 150. et seqq. 



Now, eminent as all men must acknowledge Pontey to be, in expe- 

 rience as a nurseryman, and a planter, and that he has brought out a 

 work, in which much useful knowledge and practical skill arc displayed, 

 yet it is a curious fact, that he seems not to have been much acquainted 

 with vegetable physiology, and the anatomy of plants, and by conse- 

 quence, with the double current of the oap in trees. Whoever atten- 

 tively examines his Treatise (and especially from p. 48 to 58, and p. 150, 

 et seqq.), will percoiv<> that he believed, that the sap in trees " nscends 



