General Notices. 35 



stem, the wound is completely healed over, at the very latest, in the course of 

 three years. The stem being surrounded by foliage fully exposed to light and 

 air, from its base to its summit, an abundant supply of aerated sap is returned 

 from the small branches to the stem ; and this is found greatly to increase the 

 growth of the stem both in height and thickness, as compared with the stems 

 of trees either not pruned at all, or pruned in the ordinary manner. Mr. Cree 

 pointed out to us oaks, ash trees, elms, sycamores, poplars, willows, and thorns, 

 which had been planted twenty years ago, and pruned in his manner ; and 

 which are now, though in a very exposed situation in poor soil, from 20 ft. to 

 25 ft. in height, some of them having had only one tier of branches removed, 

 and others two or three. We were most struck with the erect and rapid 

 growth made by the oaks, the Scotch elms, and the common thorns, as com- 

 pared with other trees of the same kind which had not been pruned ; and the 

 heads of which had spread out horizontally. To the pine and fir tribe, Mr. 

 Cree does not apply his method, except partially, and under particular cir- 

 cumstances, as these trees do not naturally produce side branches of a timber 

 size. 



" Mr. Cree says that he has found, experimentally, that broad-leaved trees 

 (that is, all trees except the pine and fir tribe), under 18 ft. in height, and 15 in. 

 in circumference, advance at an average as much both in height and circum- 

 ference in six years, if the branches are properly shortened, as they do in fif- 

 teen years, if these are not shortened, or if the trees are improperly pruned. 

 The more trees are pruned up close to the stem, before they are 18 ft. in 

 height, the more, Mr. Cree considers, is their growth retarded; and not only 

 that, but, from the open texture of the wood, the wounds so made, he says, 

 admit damp, and cause the tree to rot at the heart. 



" Mr. Cree's mode of pruning has been familiar to us in theory, since an 

 account of it was published, in 1828, in the third volume of the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture ; but we now acknowledge that this account failed to 

 make the impression on us that it ought to have done, and which the inspec- 

 tion of the trees under Mr. Cree's care, and his conversation on the subject 

 have now done. We are astonished, indeed, that Mr. Cree's system has not 

 been more generally adopted in all plantations made with a view to profit in 

 Scotland, where the results of his practice might have been observed with 

 little trouble ; and we can only account for it from the little attention paid to 

 vegetable physiology by foresters, gardeners, and their employers ; from the 

 remote situation in which Mr. Cree lives (Biggar), and from the great simpli- 

 city and modesty of the man himself. This, indeed, when contrasted with his 

 knowledge of vegetable physiology, practical geometry, land-surveying, engi- 

 neering, and other matters connected with rural improvement, surprised us 

 almost as much as his trees, till we looked at his books. 



" Perhaps it may be necessary to state that Mr. Cree's mode of pruning is 

 adapted solely for plantations made with a view to profit. It is wholly unfit 

 for ornamental plantations, because it reduces all the different natural forms of 

 trees to one form, viz., that of a narrow cone ; and it is equally unfit where 

 the object is crooked timber, because, by it, all the timber produced is straight 

 timber. Neither, as already observed, is Mr. Cree's mode adapted for the 

 pine and fir tribe, in which nature may be said to have adopted a mode of 

 growth which is equivalent to his system of pruning." (Gard. Gaz. for 1841, 

 p. 500.) 



The Canadian and Black Italian Poplars. — -As you appear to entertain 

 considerable doubts as to the specific distinction between the Canadian and 

 Black Italian poplars, I will briefly state my conviction that they are specifi- 

 cally distinct ; or, at all events, that, if the one is only a variety of the other, 

 the variation is so well marked, and broadly defined, that at no age, from 

 the yearling plant to the mature tree, can they be mistaken. In the Canadian 

 poplar the young shoots are very angular, a sharply winged membrane pass- 

 ing from each eye downwards, giving the whole shoot a furrowed aspect. In 

 the Black Italian, the shoots are longer, rounder, and with very trifling mem- 



d 2 



