12 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



exclusive of close plantations and copsewood. Their 

 size, when removed, was not great, the largest not 

 exceeding from thirty to forty feet in height, and from, 

 three, or three-and-a-half, to five feet in girth, at a foot 

 from the ground ; but many of them were of much 

 smaller dimensions. The heio^ht of the bushes or under- 

 wood removed was from four to ten feet, consisting 

 of every sort usually found on the banks of lakes and 

 rivers. But size, in an art founded on scientific prin- 

 ciples, is a mere matter of choice and expenditure ; for 

 trees of the greatest size are as susceptible of removal 

 as those of the least. It was desirable, however, as 

 almost every thing was to be done here in the way of 

 park-wood, to limit the operations to the smallest pos- 

 sible expenditure, consistently with producing some eff'ect 

 on the foreground and middle distance of the landscape, 

 and with careful execution. 



Whoever will take the trouble to visit the place, will 

 perhaps find his labour repaid in examining the progress 

 of an art calculated probably to become as popular as 

 any that has been cultivated within a century, as there 

 is scarcely any one in which so many persons in the 

 higher and middle ranks are interested. 



Considering the prejudices which once existed against 

 the art, and that the great fower of which it is sus- 

 ceptible will with difficulty gain belief, it may be worth 

 while to state a few facts as to its general application, 

 which are as incontrovertible as they may seem sur- 

 prising to the reader. It is from no vain desire to 

 exaggerate what has been done at this place, but merely 

 to show the degree of progress which the art has made 

 under the greatest disadvantages of soil and climate. It 

 is also for the purpose of proving to those who may 

 engage in similar undertakings, that, whatever has been 



