Retrospective Criticism. 77 



it not in the streets of ' Inchture ! ' " Is it possible for any one to be so 

 ignorant of the art of cutting up of wood as not to see the mode in which 

 this may be done ? For example, cut one of the branches through at five ft. 

 from the stem, and the part taken off will form a knee or curve ; and when 

 the trunk is split up the middle, the half of the trunk, and the remaining half 

 of the branch, will form another knee : thus, from four branches trained at 

 right angles, and situated alternately on the trunk, each extending, say 10 ft. 

 from it, eight knees or curves can be obtained; and this, I think, without much 

 confusion. " A Journeyman " cannot, however, comprehend this ; and it is 

 a great chance if he does so yet. Oh, no ! he can see nothing but a mass of 

 confusion, caused by his own six or eight shoots. He tells me that the two 

 uppermost branches would have a strong pull for the advantage ; and why so ? 

 The pear tree is an upright-growing tree, yet we do not find that there is any 

 great inequality among the branches of a well-trained pear tree, neither are the 

 uppermost branches strongest, but quite the reverse. 



The fourth objection is, that twigs, bent when young, will not keep their 

 form ; as trees and branches, when bent downwards from their natural position, 

 have a strong tendency to rise upwards. I may here remark that no candid 

 reader will, I think, say that I recommend bending branches below their natural 

 position. After this need I go on farther ? Really, Sir, the whole of the 

 objections amount to nothing, and may be refuted in a few words. 



In every lawn in which there are old oak trees, instances occur of individual 

 branches extending horizontally, to a far greater distance than I recommend, 

 or than is necessary ; and it was this fact that led me to think, that, by 

 aiding nature a little, the number of such branches might be increased, and the 

 form of the curves secured. Surely, there is nothing unnatural in this ; par- 

 ticularly with a species of tree so much inclined to shoot forth its branches in 

 a horizontal direction as the oak ; although, after what a " Journeyman" has 

 said, I do feel a little surprised that the wind allows any such habit. With 

 regard to what I intend for curves becoming only slight bends, the thing is 

 impossible ; for whenever the curve is formed, and the shoot takes its upright 

 position, the weight which the top will acquire, from year to year, will increase 

 rather than diminish the bend. In relation to the very odd, original, and 

 entertaining method proposed by a " Journeyman Gardener," for producing 

 timber for future navies, I should like to know what extent of surface of 

 plantation would be required, containing trees of stronger growth, to be 

 employed as blinders ; and how many miles of this outside row of crooked 

 progeny would be wanted to build a 74-gun ship ? It does not follow that 

 seeds of a crooked variety should produce a crooked progeny. It is not so 

 with the seeds of weeping ash ; the same condition holds good among the 

 animal and human tribes. This reply shall be the last, as it is the first, I have 

 ever made to an anonymous attack. I am, Sir, yours, &c. — James Munro. 

 Brechin Nursery, Dec. 12. 1833. 



Mr. Whiddoiis Mode of cultivating Onions and Asparagus. — Sir, As Mr. 

 Mitchell, in his answer (IX. 626.) to my remarks (IX. 323.), quotes Dr. 

 Lindley's Outlines of the Principles of Horticulture, I wish to refer him to 

 Dr. Lindley's Principles of Botany. In the latter work he will find passages 

 which, in my opinion, do not at all coincide with some in the former work. Mr. 

 Mitchell requires from me a philosophical reason for my mode of cultivating 

 plants. In compliance with his request, I will state, as far as I am able, the 

 principles on which I act. I have always been taught that soils afford a fixed 

 abode to plants, and are also the medium of the principal, if not the whole, 

 of their sources of nourishment ; that the earths of soils, exclusive of the 

 organic matter which they contain, are of no other use than enabling the 

 plant to fix itself; that the fluid matters of the soil are absorbed by the fibres 

 of the roots, and carried up through the alburnum to the leaves, which are 

 the lungs of plants, and which exhale a part of the water of the sap propelled 

 to them, decomposing the remainder, and retaining carbonic acid gas, &c. 

 For the purpose of decomposition, they inhale atmospheric air, absorb carbonic 



