44 Hetrospective Criticism. 



head, much in the same way as in thinning and pruning standard apple trees, 

 so as to leave the general outline of the tree the same as it was before prun- 

 ing ; in fact, at a distance, the head looks better and more regular than it did 

 before the operation, I am further convinced, although not by actual expe- 

 rience upon similarly prepared trees, that, had the trees at Allanton been pruned 

 in the above manner at the time of their removal, their effect upon the scenery 

 would not have been deteriorated, whilst their larger and healthier foliage in 

 immediate as well as after years would have been more pleasing, and left no 

 cause for the observations in Strictures on Steuarfs Planter'' s Guide, quoted in 

 the Gardener's Magazine, vol. vi. p. 91, 



There are many fine old ornamental trees to be found in parks, &c,, appa- 

 rently verging to decay, which might be renovated, at least for a few years, 

 were their tops regularly thinned out so as to throw fresh vigour into the 

 remaining branches ; and, in those districts where faggots are in request, the 

 prunings would pay the expenses. Trees in demesnes by the sides of public 

 roads are sometimes to be seen in want of this kind of pruning, in consequence 

 of much of the rain that falls, and which ought to go to their roots, being 

 carried off without penetrating the soil. Young trees from the nurseries are 

 also much benefited by pruning at the time of planting; not by removing a 

 certain quantity of the lower branches and leaving those near the top un- 

 touched, but by a I'egular thinning out of a portion of branches all over the 

 plant, and shortening some of the more straggling shoots of those left, par- 

 ticularly two or three of the stronger shoots near the top, in some kinds of 

 trees, which seem to contend with the leading shoot for leadership. The 

 lower branches should only be gradually removed in after years, as the trees 

 advance in growth. By keeping the heads regularly thinned, the trees, while 

 in a young state, are less exposed to be tossed about with the wind, than if 

 they were only to have their lower branches cut off, giving them much the 

 appearance of long birch brooms, with their handles stuck in the ground, 

 (See some of the young trees in Hyde Park, between Knightsbridge and 

 Kensington.) Were the young plantations partitioned off in Hyde Park, it 

 would be an excellent plan to give the different methods of pruning a trial, by 

 pruning each partition in a different manner; and, from observation in that 

 public situation, the most successful methods would soon be introduced 

 throughout the country. The above remarks do not apply to the fir tribe ; 

 they do not seem to be benefited by pruning ; and branches once removed 

 from them never push out again, while the hard-wooded deciduous trees do 

 again push out shoots in abundance where smaller branches have been removed, 

 —E.B. Oci!. 24. 1842. 



Comfortable Habitations for the Poor ivith Gardens attached. (Vol. for 1842, 

 p. 637. to 642.) — 1 entertain the hope that the nobility and gentry will 

 become alive to this important subject, and numbers of them are so already. 

 But many small capitalists in country places find a profitable investment for 

 their little moneys in buying old stables, and outhouses of various kinds, and 

 converting them into human habitations. A large old cottage, originally 

 adapted for one family, will be divided into three or four tenements, with 

 scarcely any garden ground to each. For these, the allotment system of 

 the Labourer's Friend Society seems to be especially adapted. However, 

 nothing can compensate the moral evils resulting from crowding families 

 together ; and men, finding their houses uncomfortable and no garden em- 

 ployment for their spare time, resort to the beer-house and the pubhc- 

 house, and are thereby debased and degraded, and, in fact, ruined. 1 know 

 of no remedy for this, but by the nobles and gentlemen of England having 

 such comfortable cottages as you design and recommend erected for the use 

 of all young and newly married people. — T, M. Reigate, Dec. 16. 1842. 



