PREFACE. Vll 



tion interesting to the general reader, and at the same 

 time, one useful, as a sort of manual, to the planter and 

 those interested in arboriculture. With this view, in 

 addition to the historical account of each species, the 

 useful and ornamental properties of the various trees have 

 been mentioned, and such observations made upon their 

 culture, or upon what may be termed the scientific depart- 

 ments of dendrology, as seemed consistent with his own 

 experience, and with that of many others engaged in simi- 

 lar pursuits. Under the denomination of British Forest 

 Trees, it must be observed, are included not only those 

 indigenous to the kingdom, but also such as have been 

 introduced at periods more or less remote, and which 

 since their introduction have been extensively propagated, 

 either for the quality and value of the timber they pro- 

 duce, or for their ornamental properties, whether as in- 

 dividual objects, or in combination and grouped with other 

 trees. It may, perhaps, be objected, that a few species 

 not generally recognized as Forest trees, have been im- 

 properly admitted into the following work ; such as the 

 Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparius), the Holly {Ilex 

 aqiiifoliuni), and the White Thorn {Crataegus oxyacantha) ; 

 to this the Author would venture to reply, that though 

 aware of the secondary rank of these trees in point of 

 dimensions, when compared with the greater denizens of 

 the forest, he felt that the prominent station they occupy 



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