THE MANSE GARDEN. 29 



promising lives. And as this is an operation so 

 important wherever the hand of rural improvement 

 is at work, the devotion of a page to the subject may 

 well be allowed. 



The most novel and interesting experiments of 

 this kind are those of the ingenious and enterprising 

 Sir H. Stewart. His theory, founded on a careful 

 analysis of the physiological laws, is undoubtedly 

 good ; his method of shifting the site of living timber, 

 so far as time has yet proved, appears to be eminently 

 successful ; and no small praise is due to the splendid 

 scheme of clothing a lawn in a few days with trees 

 of a stem three feet in circumference the growth of 

 thirty years. Yet there is reason to fear that neither 

 the author's valuable treatise, nor the demonstration 

 of his success, will go very far to help the nakedness 

 of our country. To the success of such operations, 

 not to speak of skill, a large expense per tree is ab- 

 solutely necessary; and reasonable fear there may be, 

 that trees of such magnitude will not do well upon 

 indifferent soil. The excavations for their new resi- 

 dence must have considerable depth ; and the whole 

 apartment, loosened as by trenching, and enriched 

 with compost, is highly favourable to the life of the 

 old, and to the growth of newly formed roots, for a 

 certain number of years. But look to the sides of 

 the pit, consisting, it may be, of hard till or sheer 

 gravel ; and what iron wall have the surprised roots 

 in their new adventures to perforate, or, after good 

 feeding, in what poverty to live, when they seek to 

 extend their sphere. It will then be time to lift 

 again, and seek a larger flowerpot for the plant. It 

 is a just theory, that the roots must be taken up to 



