PREFACE. 



hastened to Bet u la, with great eagerness ; and 

 there I found, Betula, see Birch Tree." That 

 was all; and this was pretty encouragement to one 

 who wanted to get, from books, knowledge about 

 the propagating and the rearing of trees. 



2. Some writers give you the mere botany of the 

 tree; others its qualities as timber ; others tell you 

 what ground it delights in ; others treat of the act 

 of planting ; others of pruning and cultivation; but 

 no book that I ever yet saw told me every thing 

 that I ought to know, from the gathering of the 

 seed, to the rearing up and the cutting down of 

 the tree. 



3. This is what I shall endcavovu' to do for my 

 readers in the comse of this work ; and, as I pro- 

 ceed, I shall, I trust, take care, in all cases where it 

 may be found necessary, to give the reasons for 

 doing that which I advise to be done. Rules, w^ith- 

 out reasons, have not a thousandth part of the 

 weight which they have when accompanied with 

 reasons. They savour of arbitrary commands, and 

 are seldom received with any great degree of do- 

 cility or attention. 



4. I shall begin by giving instructions for pre- 

 j)aring the ground; for planting; and for culti' 

 vating after planting. These instructions are ap* 

 plicable to trees of all sorts ; and, therefore, they 



