MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOE. 



xxvii 



of lifting a ball of earth which I regard as an error, since 

 it makes the tree roll like a bowl in a socket ; nor have I 

 minded its direction to the points of the compass, other- 

 wise than to reyerse them in its new situation, and so 

 balance the tree properly. The larger the trees I have 

 raised, I have judged it necessary to follow your system 

 the more closely ; where they were small, I used them with 

 less ceremony. If I had to translate a very large tree, I 

 would think my principal chance of success would be in 

 following your precepts exactly. The expense so far as 

 I went was a matter of very little consequence ; but I kept 

 no exact account of it, nor would it be easy to do so. I 

 remain, my dear preceptor in woodcraft, your idle but 

 grateful scholar, W. Scott. 



" If any part of this can be useful in your excellent 

 treatise, pray consider yourself as entitled to use it as 

 you will. But I fear it is too loose practice to pass to 

 record. I am so blind, that the manuscript when trans- 

 ferred to the press will need much correction.'' 



Did our limits permit us, we are enabled to give many 

 important extracts from letters of Sir Henry's friends and 

 general correspondents, both expressing their approval of his 

 work on transplanting, and of the success which attended 

 the practical application of the principles of his system in 

 different parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; presenting 

 very different climates and soils, and various degrees of 

 exposure. From Lord Lowther, in Dec. 1828, he received 

 a communication relative to the improvement of the royal 

 forests, with the view of applying his system to the im- 

 provement of that portion of the possessions of the crown. 

 The Honourable Mr Stuart Wortley, writing from Wortley 

 Hall in 1832, describes himself as perfectly satisfied with 



