ON USEFUL AND 



BOOK I, 



SECT. III. OF THE EFFECTS OF CULTURE ON TREES, IN 

 REGARD TO CHARACTERISTIC BEAUTY AND TIMBER 

 PRODUCE. 



It is remarkable, that this subject has never specifically en- 

 gaged the attention of those who have written on planting. 

 The effects of culture on other vegetables is so great, as always 

 to change their appearance, and often in a considerable degree 

 to alter their nature. The common culinary vegetables, and cul- 

 tivated grasses, assume so different an appearance, in our fields 

 and gardens, from what they do in a state of wild nature, that 

 even a botanist might easily be deceived in regard to the spe- 

 cies. The same general laws operate upon the whole kingdom 

 of vegetables ; and thence it is plain, that the effects of culture 

 upon trees, though different in degree, must be analogous in 

 their nature. It is true, that we are as yet possessed of no great 

 number, either of experiments or observations, to enable us to 

 determine, with minute accuracy, the precise extent of these ef- 

 fects ; but still a person practically conversant with the subject, 

 who shall pay attention to what he may observe taking place 

 in different parts of the country, and who possesses a sufficient 

 knowledge of the vegetable kingdom and physiology to reason, 



