88 Strictures on Steuarfs Planter's Guide. 



land Society most deservedly censured, and, indeed, we might say, held up 

 to public contempt. 



Some "palpable contradictions" are first pointed out] such, for example, 

 as (p. 2., 2d edit.) " when he is giving instructions for the transplanting of 

 great trees by the planting machine : ' It is obvious that the art of general 

 planting must at the same time be taught ; as both are governed by the same 

 general laws, and should, of course, be practised on the same known prin- 

 ciples.' Yet he tells us (p. 93.), that ' to establish any just analogy between 

 the transplanting of young trees, and the transplanting of old, is utterly im- 

 possible, whatever can be said to the contrary.' " 



Hundreds of thousands of acres, we are next told, had been planted 

 before Sir Henry's time, and " had succeeded to admiration, although gene- 

 rally directed and executed by gardeners, of whom he says, ' ninety-nine 

 out of a hundred know nothing of the properties and culture of a tree : ' 

 so that, when their employers are so foolish or unfortunate as to be guided 

 by them, it is (in Sir Henry's courteous phraseology) the blind leading the 

 blind.' 



" For the consolation of gardeners, however, be it noticed, that he adds, 

 ' Among more than a hundred gentlemen, and then* gardeners and overseers, 

 with whom I have conversed, not one appears to me to possess the remotest 

 idea of the principles of selection. Of the preparation of the soil they seem 

 to know equally little ; and tiuo only of the whole number consider either the 

 one or the other attended with difficulty.' Now, supposing (for one must 

 make suppositions in such a loose case), that the number of gentlemen, 

 overseers, and gardeners, is equal, we have two thirds of a wise gardener out 

 of only thirty-three blockheads ! So that, when Sir Henry talks of ' unedu- 

 cated foresters, and self-sufficient gardeners,' he talks of the latter, it is to be 

 hoped, with the foregoing fractional reservation. 



" Again, he says, ' It is a radical error to suppose, as is too often done by 

 planters and gardeners, that heat is not as necessary to the infancy of a ten- 

 der plant as to a new-born and helpless animal ; and that the former is not 

 as ill adapted to resist cold, and early and undue exposure to the climate, as 

 the latter.' (p. 101, 102.) Upon more cool investigation, our author may 

 discover that matters are not quite so bad, as a great part of the science of 

 gardening depends upon the knowledge of this simple fact ; and we think it 

 is carrying the matter too far, to represent gardeners as being ignorant of so 

 essential a part of their business." 



We pass over other matter to the same effect, to notice some " redeeming 

 instances " of transplanters found " amongst the fraternity." " In presenting 

 these, it seems right to place age, intelligence, and experience, at the head of 

 the list. Mr. James Stuart, at Pinkie, as is shown in the Caledonian Horti- 

 cultural Memoirs, vol. i. p. 202., published in the year 1813, 'lifted, from 

 the year 1807 to 1811 inclusive, above one hundred and sixty large fruit 

 trees, only three of which failed.' His method of removing them is detailed 

 with great exactness ; and it is so analogous, in some respects, to Sir Henry's 

 prescriptions, that if Sir Henry did not derive his notions from that publica- 

 tion, they wonderfully corroborate Mr. Stuart's. The striking nature of Mr. 

 Stuart's transplanting operations will not be disputed, when it is known that 

 some of the transplanted trees were two hundred years of age ; and that they 

 remain healthful and fruitful to the present day. 



" It is not easy to conceive that Mr. Stuart would have been less success- 

 ful, at the same time, in transplanting forest trees, had his duties then im- 

 posed such a task upon him. Ten years afterwards, they did so ; for, in the 

 year 1822, when Sir John Hope obtained a piece of ground between his man- 

 sion-house and the town of Musselburgh to the west, it became a desideratum 

 to have that place planted immediately with large trees, so as to exclude all 

 view of the town. Mr. Stuart entered on his task with his wonted skill ; 

 and it would be difficult to select any instance of large forest trees having 



