OF FRUIT AND FOREST TREES. 387 



a cure has been made as I have already related in 

 the recovery of Elm-trees. Indeed, when I reflect 

 that the Oak has been the boast of our early ances- 

 tors, and the means, under the blessing of God, of 

 affording protection and safety, as well as accumu- 

 lating honour and wealth, to the nation, what lan- 

 guage can sufficiently deplore that want of public 

 spirit, and that strange inattention to the preserv- 

 ation and increase of this staple tree, which suffers 

 such numbers of stately Oaks to go to decay ; in 

 which disgraceful state they remain to v^upbraid 

 their possessors, as foes to the commerce and 

 naval glory of the kingdom ! 



Various experiments have also been made on 

 other forest-trees, as ash, limes, chesnuts, and 

 sycamores, that had received the several injuries 

 to which they are exposed ; as well as many of 

 the resinous kinds, such as the cedar of Lebanon, 

 and others of the pine tribe; in all of which I 

 have experienced a degree of success that ex- 

 ceeded my most sanguine expectations. 



As I feel a strong solicitude to render my expe- 

 riments of the most extensive advantage to the 

 community, and in particular to the proprietors of 

 landed estates throughout the kingdom, I beg 

 leave to recommend to their particular attention, 

 that all forest-trees, whether felled with a saw or 

 an axe, may be cut near to the ground ; at the 

 same time carefully preserving the stump and roots 

 from any further injury. The surface should then 



c c 2 



