Arboretum Britannicum. 719 



very great use to gardeners and to their employers ; and will contribute 

 more than any work that could be published towards the introduction into 

 our plantations and pleasure-grounds of new, valuable, and ornamental 

 species and varieties ot* timber and ornamental trees and shrubs. Before 

 trees can be introduced, it is necessary that they should be known, their 

 uses, appearance, culture, propagation, &c. ; and this it is the object of the 

 Arboretum Britannicum to effect. When once known, they will be in demand 

 by planters ; and this demand will create the requisite supply by nursery- 

 men. This supply, to a certain extent, exists ; but, for want of an adequate 

 demand, the price of the trees is much greater than it otherwise would be, 

 and the demand of course comparatively limited. 



The arrangement of the work will be according to the natural system, 

 and, as stated in the notice referred to, not only botanical figures of every 

 species will be given, but figures of the entire tree or shrub ; all those in 

 the volume, of the same age, being figured to the same scale, in a certain 

 stage of their growth. The drawings for these figures have been making for 

 some time past in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges. Drawings of full- 

 grown specimens are also in preparation from specimens at different places 

 within twenty miles of London, and all of these will be engraved to the 

 same scale. No drawings of trees remarkable for their age or peculiarity 

 of growth will be given, as this would introduce ornament as a leading fea- 

 ture in the work, and thus render it too dear for effecting the end in view. 

 Besides, it would interfere with Mr. Strutt's Sylva Britannica ; or Portraits 

 of Forest Trees distinguished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty ; 

 an admirable work, and one that we should feel it dishonourable to interfere 

 with in the slightest degree. (See Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. p. 546.) 



In describing each species and variety, — 



1st. The specific character will be given from Decandolle, Lindley, Don, or 

 other authors, and a figure by Sowerby ; all those species and varieties 

 belonging to the same genus being drawn to one and the same scale. 



2d. The general character and description ; including form and height in 

 youth, say at the age of ten years from the nursery (about the average of 

 the trees in Loddiges' arboretum), and at maturity, or say at the age of 30 

 years or upwards to 50 years, as far as can be obtained by our own draughts- 

 men within 20 miles of London, or from the exertions of correspondents in 

 every part of Britain and Ireland. The periods of foliation, and the colour 

 of the buds and opening leaves in spring, that is, the dates, from January to 

 June ; the shades of green during summer, that is, from June to August ; and 

 the periods of defoliation, and the autumnal hues of the foliage, that is, the 

 dates of the change, from Sept. to Jan. ; with the character of the ramifications 

 and spray in winter, will be included under this head. The information 

 on these points has been, and is now, collecting for by us proper persons 

 in Messrs. Loddiges' arboretum, in the arboretum of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety, and in the arboretum at Kew. The time of flowering, colour and 

 duration of the flower, its general or popular character, and the size, colour, 

 time of ripening, and duration of the fruit or seeds, will also be given 

 under the same head. 



3d. The geographical, physical, and animal relations of each species ; in- 

 cluding distribution in different countries; native habitation as to soil, sub- 

 soil, and rocks; elevation, sea, air, water, shade, &c. ; and birds, insects, or 

 other animals to which it gives support, or by which it is injured, &c, will 

 be given from the original Floras of the different countries of which the 

 trees and shrubs are natives, and from the writings of botanical travellers 

 and topographers. Excellent resources for such writings are, the library 

 of the Linnean Society ; that of the Horticultural Society ; the Banksian 

 Library, now in the British Museum ; and the library of W. Forsyth, Esq. ; 

 to all of which we have access, and can procure it for our coadjutors. 



