viii author's PREFACE, 



to which successive writers have added, or have yet * & 1, 

 each his stick and his stone. He has endeavored to do his 

 part. While, however, he has not been inattentive to the 

 literature of his profession, he has looked even more intently 

 at nature ; he has sought to draw directly from her inexhaust- 

 ible stores; and in offering to the public the results of his 

 observations, he humbly trusts that he has contributed to the 

 progress of the art. 



In adding to his original plan two chapters on the Arbor- 

 etum and the Pinetum, the author has sought to supply a 

 want in regard to ornamental collections of trees, which is 

 becoming daily more apparent. So far as his limited space 

 has allowed, he has endeavored to treat these subjects on the 

 principles both of science and taste; and he hopes that the 

 botanical information, which he has drawn from the best 

 sources, though it maybe uninteresting to the general reader, 

 will not be unacceptable to the lovers of these pleasing de- 

 partments of Arboriculture. 



Edinburgh, August, 1852. 



