78 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



or less lopped and defaced, under the name of lightening 

 the tops, at the time of removal. These things, together 

 with the ill success almost always attendant on the com- 

 mon method, clearly point out that the principle in ques- 

 tion may be said to be altogether new to the public. 



From the facts above stated it is apparent that there 

 are certain distinct external provisions or properties in 

 trees, called the protecting properties, which are conferred 

 on them by nature, and which render them fit for resisting 

 the influence of the elements in exposed situations ; and 

 that there are certain other properties, termed the non- 

 protecting, which render them unfit. Hence it follows, 

 as already observed, that if, taking nature for our guide, 

 we adopt such trees only as are endued with the former 

 properties, as subjects for removal, we shall have the best 

 chance of succeeding in that hazardous task. In order to 

 show in the most intelligible manner how this has been 

 accomplished, perhaps the simplest course will be to 

 endeavour to detail the progress of my own attempts at 

 the object ; earnestly requesting of the reader to forgive 

 the appearance of egotism, with which such a detail must 

 necessarily be accompanied. It is only from our own 

 errors, or those of others, that we can hope to derive 

 useful lessons in a process of which the success is so much 

 dependent on judgment and accuracy. 



My first experiments, many years since, were made on 

 subjects taken from plantations in which the trees stood 

 too close to one another. The plants, as might be ex- 

 pected, were straight and beautiful, although greatly 

 drawn up by shelter towards the hght, and deficient in 

 lateral branches. But I expected, by removing a number 

 of them, to attain the double object of thinning the plan- 

 tations and wooding the open field. During the first 



