71 



at some future opportunity I may correct what may be proved 

 to be erroneous. I shall continue to plant and transplant, till 

 the Almighty shall, I hope, transplant me to a better world : 

 this is an unweeded garden. 



I may be thought to have laboured too long to prove 

 propositions which no one can reasonably dispute ; yet so 

 incalculably important is the subject, and so comparatively 

 indifferent is the attention of proprietors, that it becomes a 

 duty still further to illustrate it, and prove its value even to 

 the satisfaction of avarice itself. Words written and state- 

 ments made may not be credited by all, but I am anxious that 

 my premises should not be disputed or even doubted. 



Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures 

 Quam quce sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. 



I have caused some engravings to be made from nature, 

 from which any gentleman may make his own calculations , 

 and I have given a table with the diameter, circumference, 

 and area of a transverse section, by which he may calculate 

 what per cent, his wood is making ; and if he allows his trees 

 any room to grow^ he will be most agreeably surprised by an 

 increase of 15, 20, 25, and even as high as 30 per cent.* 



To those who have inherited plantations I would appeal. 

 They ought to tend with care the object of their ancestors' 

 solicitude. No document is wanting to show what was their 

 will, as every tree so planted is a living evidence of the inter- 

 esting fact. It is obvious that a planter's principal care 

 must have been the wish of benefiting posterity. He must 

 have felt gratified in contemplating the shelter and worth 

 which his work was adding to the domain ; and that posterity 

 must be truly ungrateful, which thwarts or defeats this bene- 

 volent design. One argument against planting, and that 

 weighs heavily with proprietors who are advanced in life is. 



* See Table at the end of this Report 



