456 Creeps Si/ste^n of Pruning Forest Trees. 



trees. After putting it to the test, however, I found that various 

 modifications upon such a principle, were necessary in the case 

 of trees ; and it was from experiments made in a variety of 

 ways, and under different forms, and by carefully marking the 

 results, that I at last arrived at the mode of pruning as above 

 described. 



A number of years ago I explained to Sir Henry Steuart of 

 Allanton this system of pruning. At that time I pruned several 

 trees at Allanton; and in two different years since I have pruned 

 and repruned several more trees as examples of the system. The 

 baronet expressed to me at the time a very favourable opinion 

 regarding it, and has since been pleased to publish his sentiments 

 upon it in his Planter^s Guide. As the paragraph explains the 

 views which I then held regarding the history of the system, I 

 shall here take the liberty of quoting it. 



" There is a meritorious nurseryman in this kingdom," says 

 Sir Henry {Planter''s Guide, 2d ed., p. 448.), " to whom I was, 

 some time since, indebted for the knowledge of this system, and 

 who has practised it, as he states to me, for nearly thirty years, 

 without having borrowed it from any one. It was first sug- 

 gested to him, as it appears, by his own reflection, and has since 

 been confirmed by considerable experience, and most uniform 

 success. He was surprised when I informed him that the 

 principle was known, and acted on, in some parts of England, 

 with great effect. This person, who is not less unassuming 

 than he is ingenious, is possessed of valuable materials for a 

 treatise on the subject ; by which, besides laying down specific 

 rules for the art, under different circumstances, directions might 

 be given for raising and managing plantations under this system. 

 According to the author's opinion, the pruning should be prac- 

 tised as early as the third year after the plantations are made, 

 and be continued till the eighteenth or twentieth. He has 

 likewise constructed tables, showing the numbers and distances 

 according to which the trees should be planted on an acre of 

 ground, and the comparative results of the ordinary, and of the 

 terminal method. In the present low state of our arboricultural 

 knowledge, I am of opinion, that a present more acceptable than 

 such a treatise could not be made to the British public." 



I was totally ignorant at the time when I explained to Sir 

 Henry Steuart my method, that the system, in any of its forms, 

 was known elsewhere ; but, from the conversation which then 

 took place, I was afterwards induced to make research into the 

 matter, to see whether the system which I had formed and 

 adopted was already actually in practice. The only authors 

 that have come under my research, who have treated of shorten- 

 ing the branches, are Mr. Blaikie and Mr. Billington ; but neither 

 of them accords in the details with my method. I may remark, 



