Withers' 's Letter to Sir H. Steuart. 95 



to the Scotch pine, yet it may be usefully applied to both ; and it never 

 should be forgotten, that the best time of the year for pruning forest trees 

 is at or a little before midsummer, instead of midwinter. 



" An error occurs in page 71., where the juniper is mentioned both as 

 a monoecious and dioecious plant : it is the latter. 



" ' The beech,' the author says, ' will, when sheltered, grow to a high tree.' 

 So it will ; and it will likewise, in the West of England, form hedges and 

 trees, in situations so bleak and exposed, that even the Scotch pine finds no 

 little difficulty in establishing itself alongside of it. 



" ' The ash,' it is justly observed, ' is different from many trees ; its value 

 is increased rather than diminished by the rapidity of its growth.' It might 

 have been added, that there are three distinct trees of the common ash, viz. 

 the male, female, and hermaphrodite, the male differing decidedly in growth 

 and quality from the other two ; for, in a wood or coppice, a practised eye 

 will readily distinguish this sort by its superior growth and beauty ; it is also 

 more elastic, and consequently more valuable, than either of the others. 



" Under the article Pyrus domestica, the author says, ' the fruit of the 

 service remains on the tree during a part of the winter : they have cathartic 

 properties ; but the people of Kamschatka use them as food when they have 

 been mellowed by frost. In some parts of the North, an ardent spirit is pro- 

 duced from them by distillation.' In this passage, the author has confounded 

 the Pyrus domestica with the Pyrus aucuparia : it is the latter which is 

 used as food by the people of Kamschatka ; and which, in some parts of the 

 North, produces an ardent spirit by distillation. 



" In speaking of the poplar, the writer has, I think, rather ' overstepped 

 the modesty of nature ; ' for he says the poplar (no species is mentioned) 

 will, in favourable situations, make shoots 3 in. in diameter, and 16 ft. long, 

 in one season. I presume he meant 3 in. in circumference and 6 ft. long. 



" These, with, perhaps, a few more inaccuracies or omissions of still less 

 importance, are the only drawbacks on the real pleasure, satisfaction, and 

 improvement, which are derived from a perusal of this excellent little book. 

 I am, Sir, &c. — Sylvanus. Chelsea, Dec. 22. 1829." 



Withers, W., Esq., Attorney at Holt, Norfolk ; Author of several Tracts on 

 Planting : A Letter to Sir Henry Steuart, Bart., on the Improvement of 

 the Quality of Timber to be effected by high Cultivation, and quick Growth 

 of Forest Trees ; in reply to certain Passages in his Planter's Guide. 

 Holt, 1829. 8vo. 



We sent this letter to be reviewed by Mr. Gorrie, a gardener and planter 

 of well known science and experience both in gardening and agriculture, who 

 has sent us the following : — 



" This letter, which Mr. Withers has contrived to extend over 133 pages, 

 is the finest specimen of bookmaking we have seen. Sir Henry Steuart, 

 author of the Planter's Guide, had, it seems, in that work made some observ- 

 ations on two pamphlets formerly written by Mr. Withers, ' stating that their 

 object is to show, that by trenching the ground previously to planting, and 

 by keeping it clean for some years afterwards, greater progress will be made 

 by wood of every sort, and that a greater return will be made to the planter 

 thereby, in ten or twelve years, than in twenty-five or thirty years by the 

 common method, and that the system is not neat,' &c. Mi*. Withers com- 

 plains that Sir Henry - misrepresents the object of his ' pamphlets, by 

 confining it to trenching and subsequent culture, the declared object of the 

 first of them being principally to show the effect of manuring land for forest 

 trees.' (p. 14, 15.) Now, we would ask Mr. Withers, does he really esti- 

 mate the common sense of mankind so low as to believe it necessary for 

 him to write a pamphlet on such a subject ? Can they be so thoroughly 

 cockneyfied as not to know, that a ' dock will grow on a dunghill '? ' Well^ 

 it was too bad in Sir Henry, if he attempted to deprive him of the merit ot 



