GO I 



of garden, that may turn out as much to the profit as to 

 the pleasure of the owner. " Nihil homine liber o dignius." 



I speak of timber cultivation, and all gentlemen would 

 wish, whether at a distance or in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of their mansions, that their trees should become 

 stately ones. Old timber, like old walls, commands respect. 



Branches seem to be the means of producing and main- 

 taining a certain quantity of leaves, which act in a way 

 easier to conceive than define, in attracting the sap upwards, 

 and through them a communication is kept up with the 

 atmosphere, from which they collect their carbon ; and every 

 increase in the size and number of their parts is attended with 

 an increase of nutritive power, and a further development of 

 new branches and leaves. I may be allowed to state generally 

 that a tree, divested of a considerable portion of its branches 

 and leaves in the growing season, vegetates slowly ; and I 

 would desire any one to attend to the fact, that the more 

 abundant the covering of healthy foliage may be, the faster 

 the tree will progress. Mr. Billington has given tables of 

 experiments on the growth of several kinds of forest trees in' 

 girth, &c., to which tables, in his publication, I would refer 

 my readers who wish for more accurate information.* He 

 endeavours to ascertain the utility and best mode of pruning, 

 or other management, to promote their growth. He takes a 

 larch, for instance, with the branches entire, (as will be 

 seen on reference to his tables), which was found to have 

 increased two inches and one-eighth in girth, in each year, 

 for four years on an average ; and a second, with branches 

 shortened, increased two inches and four-eighths each on an 

 average ; while another tree, with the branches cut close to 

 the stem, to four and five feet, has only increased one inch 

 and three-eighths, or a very little more, each year. These 



* To the publication of Mr. Billington, of Underbill, I am mucb indebted, 

 and having the pleasure of knowing him, I value his vfork the more. 



