APPENDIX. 



721 



of extent more than of beauty." " On thinning woods" The author 

 first shews at some length, that "he does not understand the mode in 

 which beauty and profit can be united ; and then observes, as an apology 

 for any thing further, that " to give such general rules for thinning woods 

 as might be understood by those who have never attentively and scientifi- 

 cally considered the subject, would be like attempting to direct a man who 

 had never used a pencil to imitate the groups of a Claude or a Poussin." 

 It requires little penetration to discover the reason why Mr. Repton has 

 recourse to this kind of apology ; nor need the scientific reader be told, 

 after giving these quotations, that their author does not understand even 

 the nomenclature of trees, much less their character is tic al distinctions, 

 properties, culture, and uses. No wonder then that he afterwards states, 

 « On this head I have frequently found my instructions opposed, and 

 my reasons unintelligible." 



■Leaving groups, opening a lawn in great woods j example, Cashiobury. 

 The author has " occasionally been required to fell great quantities of 

 timber, from other motives than merely to improve the landscape;" in 

 some instances it " produced fortunate improvements," — as at Cashio- 

 bury. 



We have now examined the author's ideas on this important subject ; 

 and certainly they justify me in affirming, that he is uninformed in every 

 thing relating to planting. Whether we compare what he has said with 

 truth, or with what he might have advanced had he been well acquainted 

 with trees, it is alike evident that he is not guided by fixed principles him- 

 self, and of course when writing for the benefit of others he must frequently 

 err ; for in every art the practical experience of men ignorant of principles 

 and particulars, and incapable of reasoning from nature and practice, can 

 never tend to improvement. Such persons may practise all their lives 

 without ever discovering a single useful fact. To be able to profit by 

 observation or experience in trees, a previous knowledge of their physio- 



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