67 



Mr. Sawyer mean to say that the fine oak and ash, in a park 

 or hedge-row, is not a tree in a state of nature? and that 

 ! the park and hedge-row timber are not more valuable than the 

 I trees in American forests, touching each other at the top, the 

 I only part on which the sun ever shines ? A young man could 

 j not, in my opinion, read a more dangerous book, 

 j A Mr. Withers, of Holt, in Norfolk, has published in his 

 works a table, the plan of which I do not find fault with, pro- 

 vided his calculations were correct ; but it is of these I com- 

 plain. He states that an acre, at the end of sixty years, would 

 yield a profitof £1300. He then goes on to state, — "Asafound- 

 "ation for my calculations, I took the tables of Mr. Waistell ; 

 ^* and I did so because I know not of any other published state- 

 " ments of the produce of woodlands, and I trusted to his great 

 *' experience for their correctness.'* He adds, — I reckoned 

 on thinning each plantation, as recommended by Mr. Wais- 

 " tell, so as to leave trees at distances from each other equal 

 **to one-fifth of their height,'^ From the above statement 

 he has professed not to have any knowledge of his own, but 

 to have borrowed from Mr. Waistell. He then goes on to 

 state, " 1 completed my table, and the results obtained were 

 "a gain per acre, at compound interest, on my plan^ of £6435. 

 "With a view of drawing the public attention to so important 

 "a subject, I determined to publish my table immediately;" 

 and he actually says that a considerable number " was printed 

 "and orders sent for advertising it, when I received a letter 

 "from Sir Thomas Beevor, to whom I had sent a manuscript 

 "copy of the table, in which he stated, and proved to my 

 "satisfaction, that forest trees could not grow to the estimated 

 "extent, nor without injuring each other, so closely together 

 "as Mr. Waistell had allowed them, for Sir Thomas's letter 

 "was accompanied by a table of twice the distance'' He then 

 states that he remodelled the tables according to the sug- 

 gestions of Sir Thomas, and thus improved, lays them before 



