421 



turesque eflect, which includes the loss of ground, and tlio expense ol' 

 fencing, for twenty or thirty years. I confine myself to the mere ex- 

 pense of transplanting the tree, without the above comparison. 



"I attended in March last, most carefidly in the park at AUanton, to 

 the operation of hfting, and planing in new situations two trees of about 

 thirty or forty years' growth: the following is the result. Ten work- 

 men began at six o'clock in the morning, to remove the two trees, tho 

 one twenty-eight feet high, the other thirty-two feet, by actual measure- 

 ment ; girth from thirty to thirty-six inches. The one tree was remov- 

 ed nearly a mile, the other about a hundred yards, and the whole opera- 

 tion was completed before six o'clock in the evening. The wages of 

 the men amounted to 15s., so that each tree cost 7s. 6d. A pair of 

 horses was used in dragging the machine, on which the trees were 

 laid. Such was the expense of tho operation. Now, if a comparison 

 be drawn betwixt this expense, and that of planting groups of young 

 plants inclosing and keeping up the inclosures, for five-and-twenty or 

 thirty years ; losing the value of the ground occupied by the groups or 

 belts. Sir Henry Steuart's system cannot be a tenth of the expense of 

 the conmion method. A few trees, of the growth of thirty or forty 

 years, produce at once that effect, for shelter or beauty, that would 

 occupy in young planting an acre or two of ground. On the considera- 

 tion of economy, therefore. Sir Henry's system is most deserving of 

 praise. But it is wrong to consider the practice of transplanting large 

 trees, as confined to mere ornament, in the formation of parks and plea- 

 sure grounds. 



" I have only farther to request the attention of the committee to 

 the progress, that such trees have made, as have been transplanted some 

 years, in the park at AUanton. I remarked more particularly the in- 

 crease in circumference of the trunks of several of these trees, and the 

 generally thriving state, and vigorous young shoots of those more re- 

 cently planted. The committee likewise will not pass over the great 

 disadvantages, that Sir Henry Steuart has to contend against. The 

 soil of a great part of this park is most unfavourable for the growth of 

 Trees. Some parts have a stiff and stubborn soil, others almost a dead 

 sand. The district of country is high, and exposed to violent west and 

 south-west blasts of wind. 



*• I have taken the liberty of giving thi? outline of Sir Henry Steuart's 

 system, and of its utiUty to you, and the other gentlemen of the com- 

 mittee, as the result of actual observation, and a mature consideration 

 of the benefit that may be derived from it. I trust, that the Highland 



