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APPENDIX. 



" Of your two fine old trees at Westqiiarter, in Stirlingsliire, which I 

 lately examined, a holly and a double-flowering thorn, I must say that 

 they appear to me to have declined chiefly from the latter of the two 

 causes above mentioned, namely, their having exhausted the food or 

 pabulum in their immediate neighbourhood ; and, in the case of the 

 thorn, in some measure from the ground being overstocked with other 

 plants, that greatly crowd upon it, even to the exclusion of light and 

 air, without which no plant can flourish. As to the holly, it seems 

 stunted and hide-bound, and sends out no free shoots at top, such as a 

 tree in health, in so fine a soil and climate, ought to do» The terminal 

 growths of the thorn, also, have begun to decay ; and if some salutary 

 remedy be not speedily adopted, to excite the roots to fresh action, it is 

 plain that the evil will ere long extend to the greater branches, and, as 

 a necessary consequence, to the trunk itself. 



" The first thing that I should recommend to be done with this noble 

 thorn is, to cut away the ivy that now strongly adheres to it. That 

 parasitical plant has covered nearly the whole external surface of the 

 stem. It already intercepts the kindly influence of the sun and air from 

 the bark of the tree, under which the finer vessels of the descending sap 

 lie, so that it may be said to prey upon the very vitals of the plant. 

 The next object should be, to clear the ground, for a considerable space, 

 of overshadowing shrubs and bushes. So venerable a tree, standing 

 single, would be the most graceful ornament of the verdant turf that 

 surrounded it. 



" The second thing that I would do, would be to dig a trench round the 

 tree, not exceeding three and a half or four feet out from the stem ; 

 which trench should be five feet broad at least, and as deep as to pene- 

 trate through both the soil and subsoil, however deep either may be, 

 until you reach the rock, gravel, pure sand, or obdurate clay {Scottice\ 

 till) that may lie below. In doing this, the workmen may fearlessly 

 cut, through all the roots they meet with, leaving only three or four 

 great ones, on the south and south-west sides, to act as cables, in resist- 

 ing the severe winds that usually blow from those quarters in every 

 part of the island. 



" Next : let whatever parts of the trench that consist of good earth, or 

 of earth capable of being easily made so, be thrown aside, and the sand 

 or gravel, if any, be wheeled away ; so that you may obtain a depth in 

 the trench of two feet or more, if the soil permit, of well-mixed mould. 

 For this purpose, let good compost or rich garden mould (of which I saw 

 abundance near the spot) be intimately mixed, by twice or three times 

 turning, with the better parts of the contents of the trench, adding about 

 a third part of good well- rotted dung, so as that a proper chemical action 



