Mr. Foster's Nursery (Ground. 29S 



himself compelled either to raise his own 

 seedlings, or to import them from England or 

 Scotland. The nursery contains several acres, 

 and is well arranged and managed. In this 

 seminary I beheld the greatest variety of 

 shrubs, evergreen and deciduous forest trees 

 I have ever seen. Here, with great pains, had 

 been collected every known species of the oak 

 (quercus), several of which had been ingrafted 

 with scions from other trees. 



In Wales the old English oak is yet to be 

 met with, but very seldom elsewhere : the 

 original sovereign of our groves having been 

 banished by the Norman and Flemish oak, in 

 consequence of their more rapid growth. The 

 acorns of the old English oak have no foot-stalks; 

 and the timber is specifically heavier, when in 

 water, than that of the continental oaks which 

 usurp its place. I should hence infer, that the 

 oak now grown in Ireland is of foreign origin, 

 as it is said to be equally valuable with the Eng- 

 lish, and to grow much faster; a recommenda- 

 tion arising probably from the same cause which 

 produces such luxuriance and rapidity in the 

 growth of all the trees, with the exception of the 

 beech, which seems to make the least progress. 

 The American tribe of bog plants have been 

 happily introduced with great success ; as im- 



