SECTION XII. 



469 



but for posterity, it follows that the office, and the way in which its 

 duties are discharged, must be extremely interesting to the community. 

 Instead of being a mere dealer in seeds and plants, a nurseryman in this 

 country should be a man of science, endued with liberal views and 

 pretty general acquirements. He should be a botanist, a gardener, a 

 planter, an agriculturist, and a person, withal, who has had the benefit 

 of a liberal, if not an academical education. He should above all, 

 if possible, be an honest man. To raise cheap plants is one thing, to 

 raise the hest and healthiest plants is a thing very different ; and I am 

 persuaded, were another Boutcher now to arise in Scotland, that instead 

 of being allowed to languish unknown, at Comely Garden or elsewhere, 

 and die at last in neglect and indigence, he would rapidly make a 

 fortune. Such is the present wealth and intelligence of the country, 

 that if he only trod in the footsteps of his honest and unpretending 

 predecessor, and regarded all considerations as nothing in comparison 

 with the furnishing of superior articles, he would soon attract into his 

 hands half the business of the kingdom. To such a nurseryman as 

 this, a better price indeed would be paid ; but it would be the best-spent 

 money that men of land-property could lay out. The rapid progress, 

 nay the obvious health and vigour of woods planted in consequence, 

 would increase in a three or four- fold ratio ; a ratio quite inconceivable 

 to any one who has not verified the fact. Yet it is a fact which we 

 may easily verify, by taking the trouble to inspect, and compare with 

 others, the plantations of any nobleman or gentleman who is judicious 

 and knowing enough to raise his own nursery-plants ; but his scale of 

 operations, to admit of an efficient arrangement of this sort, must be 

 pretty considerable. 



What, then, will effect the reform in our arboricultural system which 

 we so much desiderate ? Probably public opinion alone ; and nothing 

 less, as far as I can see, than the same influence to which I have more 

 than once appealed, that of the great Agricultural Society of Scotland, 

 is capable of bringing that powerful engine to bear upon the object. Of 

 treatises on woods and plantations there is not any want at present. 

 But were the Society to hold out premiums to nurserymen, for raising 

 the hardiest and best plants of various kinds and ages, such as showed 

 the healthiest character in respect to roots, fibres, stem, bark, and other 

 properties, the eyes of planters would at once be opened to the vast im- 

 portance of having such materials to work with ; and in fact, within a 

 short time, none but such plants would be valued, or would sell in the 

 market. 



Of late years we have seen, with unmixed satisfaction, men of the 

 highest rank, wealth, and talents, successfully apply themselves to 



