NEW METHOD OF REARING OAK. 2!45 



<;over had been destroyed. I measured a number of 

 each carefully, and found that the former had, on 

 an average, grown three times as much as the latter. 

 Nor was there the least ground for ascribing this 

 disparity to any difference in the quality of the 

 soil ; for I examined it^ and found it of the same 

 nature throughout the whole piece of ground. 

 There, in fact, appeared to be no cause of the su- 

 periority of the one over the other, but the shelter 

 afforded by^the whins which had not been destroyed. 



I hasten to conclude this section, by observing, 

 that the principal features of the plan of rearing 

 oak I have been recommending, are countenanced 

 by no less respectable authority than that of Nature 

 herself. We have already had occasion to prove, 

 that, in ancient times, this tree grew plentifully in 

 Scotland, and we are certain that our old forests 

 were never planted by the hands of man. Our an- 

 cestors, five hundred or a thousand years ago, had 

 acquired no taste for making improvements ; and a 

 feudal chieftain of those ages would have been as 

 easily persuaded to relinquish any of his personal or 

 hereditary feuds, as to plant trees on his estate. 

 But, if the ancient oak forests of Scotland were na- 

 tural, as it is allowed on all hands they were, we 

 are sure that every tree of them grew to maturity 



