THE planter's GUIDE. 



105 



tlie same intelligent writer recommends, " to the ability 

 of the roots." We will, moreoyer, take it for granted 

 that he deals mercifully with this beautiful tree, and cuts 

 away only a half or a third part of its boughs, and thus 

 transfers it to its new situation. Under these circum- 

 stances, we may presume that some props or fastenings, 

 whether of wood or cordage, may be requisite, especially 

 about the equinox, to preserve the tree in an upright 

 position. Now, will not all the eyils ascribed by Miller 

 to the mutilating system, independently altogether of 

 picturesque considerations, soon begin to assail it '? Having 

 the roots and top (which are both conservative organs) 

 curtailed and injured at one and the same time, the 

 supply not less than the preparation of the sap is com- 

 pletely impeded. From the obvious want of leaves 

 sufficient to elaborate the sap, and the equally striking 

 want of branches to communicate nourishment to the 

 stem, and ultimately to the roots, the whole tree in most 

 instances becomes stunted and paralysed. Pale and 

 yellowish tints supply the place of a deep and healthful 

 verdure of foliage, a,nd the larger boughs, as well as the 

 light spray, gradually decay and drop off. Even in cases 

 which are the most eminently successful, and where the 

 tree fortunately escapes these mischances, fifteen years, 

 as I conceive it, in the best English climates, and twenty 

 and five-and-twenty at least in the northern counties and 

 in Scotland, are scarcely sufficient to replace the ampu- 

 tations with fresh wood, and to restore the tree to its 

 natural health and strength. 



What, we may ask, have now become of its fine sym- 

 metry of form, its characteristic and ample top, "its 

 happy surface (as Gilpin expresses it) for catching great 

 masses of light V What also has become of the fair 

 promise which, before removal, it held out of enduring 



