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NOTICES OF AUTHORS. 



try, is ready to attest it of course ! There are few 

 sublunary matters whicli admit of evidence more 

 conclusive. We quote his account of this uniform 

 " lav^^ of nature." 



" The same general law operates in a similar 

 way on all woody plants, but of course less rapidly, 

 owing to the less rapid growth of trees, from the 

 lowest bush to the oak of the forest. In all these, 

 the culture of the soil tends to accelerate vegetation, 

 and by consequence to expand the fibre of the wood. 

 It necessarily renders it softer, less solid, and more 

 liable to suffer by the action of the elements. Let 

 us shortly give a few examples of the uniform effect 

 of the law of nature. 



" Every forester is aware how greatly easier it is 

 to cut over thorns or furze that are trained in hedges, 

 than such as grow naturally wild, and are exempt 

 from culture. Gardeners experience the same thing 

 in pruning or cutting over fruit trees or shrubs ; 

 and, the difference of the texture of the raspberry in 

 its wild and in its cultivated state, is as remarkable ; 

 for although the stem in the latter state is nearly 

 double the thickness of that in the former, it is 

 much more easily cut. On comparing the common 

 crab, the father of our orchards, with the cultivated 



