294 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. lig'lit, and want a loamy ligature ; but before sowing (I mean here for 

 •^^y^ large designs) turn it up a foot deep, sowing or setting your seeds 

 a hand distance, and riddle earth upon them ; in five or six weeks they 

 will peep. When you transplant, water them well before, and cut the 

 clod out about the root, as they do melons out of the hot-bed, which knead 

 close to them like an egg : Thus they may be sent safely many miles, 



" cabbages are planted. One man will plant as many in this way, as two in the other j 

 "yet the first method is preferable where the ground admits of it, as I have always 

 " observed fewer plants to fail. My reason for planting from the seed-bed is, that 

 " it comes nearest to the operation of nature. Plants removed from the seed-bed into the 

 " nursery, must have their roots pruned considerably before they can be planted into the 

 " pits where they are to continue, which adds greatly to the expense. Besides, nursing 

 " causes a luxui-iant growth in this hardy mountainous tree, which spoils its nature and 

 robs it of longevity. 



" It is generally believed that there are two kinds of Fir-trees, the produce of Scot^ 

 " land, vizi the red or resinous large tree, of a fine grain, and hard solid wood ; the other, 

 " a white wooded Fir, with a much smaller proportion of resin in it, of a coarser grain, 

 "and of a soft, spongy nature; it never comes to such a size, and is more liable to decay. 

 " At first appearance this would readily denote two distinct species, but I am convinced 

 " that all the trees in Scotland, under the denomination of Scotch Fir, are the same j and 

 " that the difference of the quality of the wood, and size of the trees, are entirely owing to 

 "circumstances, such as climate, situation, and the soil they grow in. The finest Fir- 

 *' trees appear in the most mountainous parts of the Highlands of Scotland, in glens, or 

 " on sides of hills generally lying to a northerly aspect, and the soil of a hard gravelly 

 " consistence, being the natural produce of these places. The winged seeds are scattered 

 " in quantities by the wind, from the cones of the adjacent trees, which expand in April 

 " and May with the heat of the sun ; these seedlings, when young, rise extremely close 

 " together, which makes them grow straight, and free from side-branches of any size, to 

 " the height of fifty or sixty feet befoi*e they acquire the diameter of a foot : Even in this 

 " progress to height they are very slow, occasioned by the poorness of the soil, and the 

 " numbers on a small surface, which I may say makes them in a constant state of war for 

 " their scanty nourishment, the stronger and tallest by degrees overtopping the weaker, 

 " and when the winds blow they lash against one another ; this assists in beating off any 

 " horizontal braitches that might damage the tirhber with knots, as Avell as by degrees 

 " crushes the overtopped trees. In such state of hostility they continue struggling until 

 " the master-trees acquire some space ai'ound them ; then they begin to shoot out in a more 

 " bushy manner at the top, gradually losing their spiral form, increasing afterwards more 

 " in size of body than height, some acquiring four feet diameter, and about sixty feet 

 " of height to the branches, fit for the finest deal board. The growth is still extremely slow, 

 " as is plainly proved by the smallness of the grain of the wood, which appears distinctly 

 " in circles from the centre to the bark. Upon cutting a tree over close at the root, I can 



