SECTION III. 



ATTEMPT TO SUGGEST A NEW THEORY, OR PRINCIPLE 

 OF THE ART. 



From tlie cursory view which has been given of the 

 rise and progress of transplanting, from the earliest times 

 down to the present, it appears, notwithstanding the 

 objections of some ingenious men, that it is an art worthy 

 of an attentive cultivation ; and that, if it could be estab- 

 lished on principles founded in nature, and confirmed by 

 experience, it might, within a short period, become exten- 

 sively useful. 



The best-informed phytologist who has treated the 

 subject is the judicious Miller, the author of the Gardener s 

 and Botanist's Dictionary— a work which, in the enlarged 

 edition of Professor Martyn of Cambridge, should be 

 dihgently studied by every planter of education. On the 

 art in question this accurate observer has no formal dis- 

 quisition ; but in the article " planting" he has introduced 

 some strictures on the practice of removing large trees as 

 it was in his time prevalent, and some general objections 

 to the art itself, which are deserving of attention. These, 

 then, it would be proper to consider in the outset, before 

 we proceed to inquire respecting the improvement of the 

 art. His main objection to the then existing system 

 (which, as we have seen in the foregoing chapter, is pre- 

 cisely that of modern planters) is, that the lopping or 



