126 Agriculkire and the Home of Bnssell. 
reserved for the engineering skill of the Rennies and Telford, and 
the mechanical genius of Watt, to complete the great work to 
which this noble pioneer so determinedly set his hand. But, to 
use the words of Mr. Froude in one of his Short Studies, " if solid 
work well done, if the addition of hundreds of thousands of acres 
to the soil available for the support of English life, be a title to 
honourable remembrance, this Earl ranks not the lowest in the 
Cheneys pantheon." 
The fifth Earl and first Duke, who, as has been shown, 
was instrumental in carrying out the scheme commenced 
by his father, survived its accomplishment for nearly half a 
century — until the year 1700. Passing by his immediate suc- 
cessors in the title, we come to John, the fourth Duke, who 
succeeded to the estates in 1732, and of whose interest in agri- 
cultural matters we have occasional glimpses in his published 
Corresixmdence, and in the introduction prefixed thereto by 
his great-grandson, the late Earl Russell. We read of his fre- 
quent journeys to his property for the purpose of marking out 
hedges, planting trees, and letting farms. Planting was with 
him a very favourite occupation, for the evergreen drive at 
Woburn was his work ; and in 1743 he converted a rabbit war- 
ren in the park into the fine plantation, more than 100 acres in 
extent, known by the name of the Evergreens, to commemorate 
the birth of his daughter, afterwards Caroline, Duchess of 
Marlborough. It is related of him that on one occasion, his 
desire to thin the young trees being resisted by his gardener, 
who said it would destroy the plantation and injure his profes- 
sional reputation, the Duke not only carried out his intention, 
but (with somewhat unmerciful sarcasm) met the objection b^ 
puttin:^ up a notice-board facing the road : — " This plantation 
has been thinned by John, Duke of Bedford, contrary to the 
advice and opinion of his gardener." Of the plantation so 
formed Mr. Forbes, a later gardener, says, in his preface to the 
Pinetum Wohurnense, that many of the Coniferje may be 
pronounced as unequalled by any other plantation in the king- 
dom, and that this may be chiefly attributed to the Duke's 
judicious thinning during their early growth.' 
land.' In winter most of the reclaimed land was ' brifflit,' j.f., covered with 
water. Tliis was, however, all the adventurers pretended to do. It was left 
to others to obtain c()mi)lete mastery of the water l)y fornung aubsidiary dis- 
tricts under Local Acts, and lifting the water by machinery into the great 
arterial works of the adventurers." 
' " The mischief and damage arising tp plantations in general from a bad 
system of pruning, or neglect, indiiced the late public-spirited Duke of Bedford 
[Francis] to direct a scries of experiments to be made at his exjiense by W. 
i'oiitey, of lluddersfield, on his extensive plantations in the neighbourhood of 
