98 Withers' 's Letter to Sir H. Steiiart. 



Scotchmen caused it to be adopted there.' (p. 41, 42.) ' Where wert thou 

 then, Grillon ! I V We know that Mr. Cobbett was perpetually slashing at 

 Scotchmen, because he found them too knowing to be gulled by his puffing ; 

 we have heard that an English drover now and then had the baseness to 

 gibe ' Sawney ' with national distinction ; but, till we read this letter, we did 

 not believe that there was a man in South Britain (Cobbett excepted), who 

 could sign his own name, capable of displaying so much silly imbecility. 



" We have now noticed the ' objects ' of the first and second pamphlets. 

 One of the multifarious objects of the present ' Letter ' seems to be to con- 

 tradict an assertion said to be made by Sir Henry Steuart, viz. ' That the 

 culture of the soil will have an effect on the quality of the timber.' The 

 importance we attach to this question will appear from what we have 

 already stated regarding the effects of that culture. Our attention has 

 been more directed to the culture than to the quality of timber; but, in 

 conducting sales, we have uniformly remarked that purchasers preferred ash 

 trees of slow grovjth, to those of the same dimensions that had grown more 

 rapidly. We believe there is much in accidental varieties of the same spe- 

 cies, with regard to strength and durability, though cultivated under the 

 same circumstances; this we have observed most conspicuous in the ash, 

 the oak, the larch, and the beech. When Sir Henry contends that a ' cer- 

 tain slowness of growth is essentially necessary to the closeness of texture 

 and durability of all timber,' we do not think he is fairly met by Mr. Withers, 

 or he would not have brought the rapid growth of the locust tree as an in- 

 stance. The yew tree, as an instance of slow growth, firmness of texture, 

 and durability, might in this case be adduced by Sir Henry ; and the poplar, 

 as a rapid grower, possessing neither firmness of texture, nor extraordinary 

 durability. Each tree should, in fairness to the question, be pitched against 

 its own species. 



" Eighteen letters are produced to show that rapid-growing timber is 

 good in quality, and that manure promotes the growth of trees ; these 

 letters serve at least to fill about fifty-six pages of the pamphlet. The 

 second letter is very lengthy, a sort of a rambling review of Sir Henry's 

 book, attempting to display much profound knowledge of arboriculture. 

 ' Sir Henry,' he says, ' in confirmation of his arguments, refers to the Editor 

 of the Gardener'' s Magazine. I am aware that Mr. Loudon is high authority 

 in the present day ; no one who has seen his bulky volumes will dispute his 

 claim to very great learning, both in the theory and practice of rural economy ; 

 but his great work, the Encyclopcedia of Gardening, is, in many instances, 

 nothing more than a series of contradictory opinions strung together con- 

 junctively, without any decided opinion of his own to assist the ignorant 

 reader, calculated rather to mislead than instruct.' (p. 71.) 



" We reckon it would be a work of supererogation to attempt seriously 

 to refute these ill-natured remarks ; the high merits of that work are well 

 known and highly appreciated by every professional gardener who under- 

 stands the English language. Mr. Loudon does not too often, nor unne- 

 cessarily intrude his own opinions, nor does he require the aid of anonymous 

 scribblers to bolster up absurd theories. That work is a faithful record, in 

 an abridged form, of every thing of importance that had been written on 

 gardening up to the time it was published. Any work attempting to recon- 

 cile all the conflicting statements that have been written on gardening, or on 

 any other art, would be almost as preposterous as the Letter of 133 pages 

 we are now reviewing. Mr. Loudon did not consider his readers as mere 

 machines, to be impelled by the power of steam ; he laid a vast mass of 

 opinions before them, and occasionally his own ; thus giving them an oppor- 

 tunity of exercising then- own judgment. We do not say that his work is 

 fitted for ' babes in knowledge ; ' but we know that there is no book in the 

 English language where the young gardener will find an equal mass of mate- 

 rials from which he can form his judgment ; and, we believe, few will deny 

 that the materials there furnished, and which in his other works that author 



