26 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



timber, is a wrong or defective mode of cultivation. 

 As many planters seem to be of opinion tliat every 

 kind of soil is equally adequate for tlie production 

 of every kind of trees, so they appear to think the 

 same culture is equally appropriate for all. Hence 

 the most different species are often treated in pre- 

 cisely the same manner, no allowance at all being 

 made for the peculiarities of constitution which na- 

 ture has assigned to each. If a fir thrives with a 

 certain mode of treatment, it is inferred as a matter 

 of course, that an ash, an elm, or any other variety, 

 will succeed as well under similar management ; nor 

 is the culture generally blamed, when the event 

 proves contrary to what had been anticipated. Firs 

 are found to succeed well when they are removed 

 from the nursery to their final destination, at two 

 years of age ; and in districts where they have been 

 nearly exclusively cultivated, if at any time it hap- 

 pen that a few deciduous trees, of the more valua- 

 ble kinds, be planted, they are sure to be taken 

 from the ground where they have been raised from 

 the seed, at the same age, without inquiry being 

 once made, whether such usage be consistent, or in- 

 consistent, with the nature of the plants. In places, 

 on the contrary, where deciduous trees have been 



