456 Cruickshank's Practical Plaitter. 



against pruning firs. That Speechly was against it appears 

 from his papers in Hunter's Georgics, and Young's Annals / 

 and in the last edition of Miller's Dictionary, art. Woods, not 

 only the general arguments against pruning the pine and fir 

 tribes, but even the particular mode of pruning the hard- 

 wooded trees, recommended by Cruickshank, is given :—" No 

 fir tree should ever be pruned, unless to cut off the branches 

 near the ground : all other trees should be pruned with a 

 friendly hand, and only the branches taken away that rival 

 the growth of the trunk : in general, these branches are near 

 the ground." Pontey is blamed because he " tells us that 

 the spruce will thrive well in dry land ; meaning, that it will 

 attain a large size in such a situation." Pontey is right in 

 asserting that it will thrive well in dry land (see Vol. V. p. 595., 

 the spruces at Denbighs) : but that he ever meant it would 

 attain a large size in such a situation we do not believe ,* be- 

 cause he uses them only as nurses, and recommends their 

 being cut down for fence-woodj when not too large for being 

 used entire and with the bark on. The bark, we have often 

 heard Pontey say, rendered the spruce fir one of the most 

 durable of trees used in a young state. We agree with the 

 writer, however, that the natural situation of the spruce is low 

 and moist. 



" In Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening we are told that the seeds of the 

 spruce, larch, and Scotch fir should be covered half an inch deep." (p. 31.) 



This is incorrect : we have, taking Sang as our guide, 

 directed covering the first and the last half an inch ; but the 

 larch only a quarter of an inch. Thinking it rather singular 

 that Sang - , who has been a nurseryman all his life, should be 

 wrong, we wrote to him, and also to Mr. Reid of Aberdeen, 

 Mr. Gorrie, Mr. Donald, and others, on the subject. We 

 find, in answer, that by most nurserymen half an inch is con- 

 sidered too much ; and, though it was proper to censure us 

 for recommending that depth for the Scotch pine, it was unfair 

 to state that we included also the larch, which we expressly 

 recommend to be covered only one fourth of an inch. 



" In giving directions for laying out a nursery, Loudon recommends that 

 earth should be forced, as it is termed, in order to obtain soil exactly to 

 suit every species of trees that it may be necessary to raise. This is another 

 English nostrum, the chief use of which seems to be to create expense." 

 (p. 32,) 



The author enlarges on the subject in a note, arguing 

 against " scrupulously forming the soil so as to be in exact 

 accordance with the nature of every plant that it may be ne- 

 cessary to raise in it ;" as, 



" In the first place, to discourage the propagation of trees, by increasing 



