^8 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



be propagated to any extent, at an expense of from 

 one to two pounds per acre, exclusive of enclosing 

 the ground. 



The pruning and thinning of wood are often, es- 

 pecially in the northern counties, sadly neglected. 

 This is an error of no small importance, as it may 

 cause a plantation to be worth less than half what 

 it might have been under different management. 

 Bad, however, as is the total omission of these ope- 

 rations, it is far from being so pernicious as the per- 

 formance of them on wrong principles, which too 

 frequently happens. Not to prune or thin a wood, 

 when either is requisite, is like leaving a sick per- 

 son without medical aid ; but to apply these pro- 

 cesses in an erroneous manner, is to prescribe such 

 nostrums to the patient as will serve only to aggra- 

 vate his disease. 



Considerable mischief has been done of late years 

 to the interests of arboriculture in Scotland, by a 

 too close attention having been paid to the maxims 

 of certain English writers, or of persons to whatever 

 part of the island they originally belong, whose 

 practical knowledge has been gathered, for the most 

 part, south of the Tweed. It is not to be denied, 

 indeed, that some of them have given us many use- 

 ful hints with regard to the management of the trees 



