Creeps System of Pruning Forest Trees. 435 



watering and beating, leaving it uncovered all night, if tlie frost 

 is likely to continue. Next day we cover the surface with soft 

 peat or bog earth to the depth of 12 or 15 inches, afterwards a few 

 rafters and spars are put over the ice and lightly thatched with 

 reeds. Our pit has now been in operation upwards of three 

 years, and has kept the ice well. We generally open it in June 

 (having a small heap piled up on the surface of the ground, and 

 covered with moss, which serves till that time), by clearing off a 

 part of the moss, which is not again replaced, as it would soil the 

 ice. Sometimes a bundle of straw is put over the opening, but 

 we generally leave it uncovered, the ice protruding through the 

 moss Hke a block of marble, for we feel no apprehension of a defi- 

 ciency. At the end of the year, or when we clear out the moss to 

 prepare for putting in new ice, there is generally 3 or 4? feet of the 

 old ice remaining, over which we put the new ice ; last winter we 

 had all the old ice taken out, to examine the bottom and re- 

 new the wood, if necessary. The moss is dug from a bog, carted 

 forward, and laid on damp : the same moss has served to cover 

 the pit for three years, it gets mixed with the leaves, but that 

 appears to do no harm ; perhaps half-wetted leaves might be a 

 substitute where moss cannot be obtained. In bringing forward 

 the ice we generally empty the carts into the pit at once, and 

 there spread and break it ; the three leading points being sim- 

 plicity, cheapness, and efficiency. 



Erskine House Gardens, July 29. ISll. 



Art. IV. On Mr. Gavin Crees System of Pruning Forest Trees - 



Having lately had an" opportunity of inspecting some trees which 

 had, been for twenty years subjected to Mr. Cree's system of 

 pruning, under the immediate direction of Mr. Cree himself, 

 we have formed a very high opinion of its importance, in the 

 case of plantations made with a view to profit, and we intend to 

 make it as widely known as our means will permit. We insert, 

 in the meantime, two articles which we have received from Mr. 

 Cree, and his papers on the subject published in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture, and after we have examined some of 

 the trees referred to in the first of these articles, we shall have 

 something further to say on the subject. — Cond, 

 Edinburgh, August 10. 1841. 



An Outline of Gavin Cree's System of Priming Forest Trees. 



Arboriculture affords a never-failing source of pleasure to 

 the planter, while its effects give beauty to the landscape. In 

 dropping the acorn, we should not forget that its offspring ought 



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