NURSERY AND PLANTING. 



51 



position was made by those, who considered their own private 

 interests and emoluments to be at stake. Times are now much 

 changed, and men see, and are disposed to act more Hberally in 

 this respect; and we find most of our great planters originat- 

 ing their own trees for their own use, notwithstanding that 

 they can be, in many cases, purchased cheaper from the com- 

 mercial nurserymen than they can be reared by the proprietor. 

 This was not the case twenty or thirty years ago, and at that 

 period, a vast annual sum passed from the hands of the planter 

 to the nurseryman ; and, as a consequence which might be ex- 

 pected, opposition and party-spirit followed, and in the end 

 trees could be purchased at, nearly 50 per cent, cheaper than 

 they were formerly sold for. 



This may be attributed to a class of needy men, who, taking 

 the advantage of the planting mania, established themselves 

 over the country, and by underselling the regular and respect- 

 able nurserymen, who had both credit and honor at stake, 

 reduced the confidence of land-owners in them to that ebb, that 

 for a time lands were planted by those who presented the 

 lowest estimate. A system of this description was productive 

 of both good and evil, for, in the first place, it acted as a stimu- 

 lus to the more expeditious propagation of trees, and conse- 

 quently of affording them to be sold at a much lower price, and 

 this has ever since continued to be the case. But, upon the 

 other hand, the evil which followed, was the total disappoint- 

 ment of those proprietors who planted upon this cheap system, as 

 few of them, after several years planting and re-planting, had, 

 in the end, a tithe of the trees so planted on their land. Dis- 

 appointed in this manner, many established private nurseries of 

 their own, and by degrees were able to supply their own de- 

 mand ; and where these were conducted on good principles, the 

 result was highly satisfactory to themselves and an example 

 which others followed. Such may be considered as the origin 

 of private jmrseries. 



While the high price of trees continued, many landed pro- 

 prietors were deterred from planting so extensively as they in- 

 tended, in consequence of exorbitant charges ; and when the 

 low prices became prevalent, and a certain class of nurserymen 

 became cheap contractors, not only for the supply of the plants, 



