356 



remain as the final crop : for, as the roots of these chiefly run along the 

 surface, and as in them the great current of the sap is chiefly confined 

 to one channel, that is, the trunk, consequently, that tribe of trees is 

 peculiarly liable to injury and change, when subjected to unnatural 

 agency." — Improv. Count. Res. Vol. II. B. I. 8. 



Nothing can be more ingenious than these speculations, or more phy- 

 siologically just ; and I rejoice to see, that the practice of the best plant- 

 ers is improving, with the advancement of science. 



Tlie practice of pruning, in respect to the objects to which it is ap- 

 plied, naturally divides itself into two parts, namely, the pruning of 

 trees for ornament, and for profit. In pruning for ornament, as in park- 

 wood, the less the knife is employed the better, except it be to keep the 

 tops properly balanced, or to displace some luxuriant shoot, that appears 

 to rival the main or leading stem. In close plantations, consisting of 

 grove and midervvood intermixed (supposing them to have been executed 

 at proper distances), the only object should be, to preserve the spiral 

 shape of the former, and the subordinate character of the latter, by 

 timely retrenchment. If that be not effected, nature is prevented from 

 generating such provisions, as are indispensable to preserve the vigour 

 of botli. In both of the above cases, the system of " cutting in," or 

 what I shall venture to call Terminal Pruning, will be found most 

 consistent with science, aiid with successful practice. 



In pruning woods for profit, the task is more complicated, and conse- 

 quently more difficidt, and the obtaining, as Pontey insists on, " the 

 greatest weight of wood," is a material object, provided it be wood of 

 good qvality, which, according to his system, cannot always be pro- 

 duced. But experience has shown how miseraldy the means of attain- 

 ing this object has been mistaken in Scotland, and still more in England, 

 within the last twenty years. To Ccdl the lopping and hacking method 

 a Scotch practice (as some late writers have confidently done), is nearly 

 as absurd, as to call the " General method of Planting Waste Lands," 

 as practised in every part of Europe, where the art. of planting is known 

 and cultivated, the " Scotch Method ;" and it shows an extraordinary 

 unacquaintance with the history of that art. Poor Scotland, indeed, 

 labours diligently to follow John Bull in all his follies, as well as his 

 improvements ; but it seems hard to make her responsible for practices, 

 which, whether good or bad, she unquestionably has derived from her 

 neighbours of the south. It is a certain fact, that it is little more than a 

 century since the arts of planting and gardening were generally culti- 

 vated in Scotland, and that they were, and are now cultivated, solely 

 after the English methods : and it is as certain, that previously to the 



