30 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



productive of some good." Many of the writers in 

 question seem not even to know what kind of soil is 

 most proper for the various sorts of trees. One of the 

 most respectable of them, Pontey, tells us that the 

 spruce will thrive well in dry land, meaning, that it 

 will attain a large size in such a situation, — an as- 

 sertion which will not be found correct in one out of 

 ten thousand cases. To every general rule there 

 are some exceptions, and a tall spruce may be occa- 

 sionally found in very dry ground, as a pretty large 

 Scots fir will sometimes occur in a marsh. Some 

 anomalous case of this kind it may have been that 

 has deceived Mr Pontey, or, more probably, he has 

 been imposed on, by having seen in land of the qua- 

 lity he describes, some plantation or other of spruce, 

 below twenty years of age, which had a thriving 

 look ; for, till near that period, the tree will seem 

 to flourish in the very driest soils ; but its lower 

 branches will then begin to decay, its growth will 

 be arrested, and its appearance, in the course of a 

 few years, will be such as effectually to dissipate 

 every hope of its ever attaining the size of useful 

 timber. When such mistaken notions as these ap- 

 pear in works which are widely circulated, they can- 

 not fail to mislead, and prove highly mischievous. 

 Even the raising of firs from seed in the nursery, 



