Uii 
MONTHLY. 
Vol.  XV.]  COLOMBO,  MARCH  2Nd,  1896.  [No.  9. 
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  ARBORI- 
CULTURE  AND  LANDSCAPE 
GARDENING. 
Bv  Rev.  J.  G.  Macvicak,  A.M.,  D.D. 
(^Reprinted  from  7’ransactions  of  the  Scottish  ArJwri- 
cvltuml  Society,  Vo/.  JT  ■) 
IGH  is  the  cailiug  of  the  cul- 
tivator. It  is  not  to  provide 
food  merely,  though  of  all 
things  food  is,  of  course,  the 
most  important ; but  it  is  in 
concurrence  with  the  architect 
and  the  engineer  to  extend  thg 
power  of  man  over  nature  in 
a friendly  way ; it  is  to  clothe  mere  material  nature; 
in  the  beautiful  lineaments  of  humanity  Nature, 
indeed,  even  when  left  entirely  to  herself,  is  always 
respectable  and  never  ugly — never  mean.  But  how 
much  more  beautiful  when  she  bespeaks  man’s  intelli- 
gence and  tasteful  dealings  with  her;  when  the 
panorama  on  which  the  contemplative  eye  is  invited 
to  rest,  displays  not  only  rocky  mountains,  or  wooded 
valleys,  or  open  plains,  but  noble  mansions 
“Bosom’d  high  in  tufted  trees;’’ 
adventurous  bridges  spanning  ravines  and  rivers, 
smiling  cottages,  corn  fields,  and  flower-gardens, 
parks  and  meadow’s,  with  frequent  trees,  standing 
like  sentinels  to  guard  the  forest  on  the  upland ! 
Next  to  the  discharge  of  social  duty,  next  to  the 
endeavour  to  be  a Little  Providence  in  his  own 
sphere,  consulting  for  the  happiness  and  w’ell-being 
of  all  around  him,  the  best  way  in  which  a man 
can  spend  his  life,  is  to  devote  it  to  Nature,  with 
n view  to  draw  her  out  for  man’s  behoofs,  either 
by  reminding  her  of  seed-time  and  harvest,  or  by 
rendering  her  Beautiful  for  continual  enjoyment. 
And  in  this  there  is  great  encouragement.  Those 
powers  in  nature  which  refuse  to  be  trained,  and 
which  resist  all  charge,  are  not  more  powerful  now 
than  they  were  thousands  of  years  ago.  The  storms 
of  the  ocean  are  not  more  terrible.  Ttie  rock  of 
the  alp  is  not  harder.  The  climate  of  the  district 
(if  the  surface  of  the  groxrnd  beneath  ha.s  not  been 
changed)  is  not  more  cold,  or  damp,  or  arid.  But 
meantime  man’s  power  over  nature  has  been  mar. 
vellously  increased.  Nature  can  no  longer  resist 
him  so  effectuallv  now  as. she  could  do  in  former 
times  Let  the  winds  blow  and  raise  the  sea  into 
w'hat  waves  they  may,  the  steamship  can  cut  the 
waves  through  as  they  successively  attack  her,  can 
hold  right  on  her  course  in  spite  of  them,  and  make 
head-way  right  in  the  wind’s  eye.  As  to  the  rocks 
of  the  Alps,  be  they  ever  so  hard,  it  has  been 
voted  that  they  shall  be  put  out  of  the  way  along 
a certain  line,  to  the  end  that  the  traveller  to  whom 
time  is  an  object  may  no  longer  have  to  go  over 
Mont  Cenis,  but  right  across  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tain. And  in  a few  years  a tunnel  many  miles  loug 
will  be  open  right  through  from  Prance  to  Italy. 
Nor  is  it  the  engineer  alone  who  is  thus  coming 
into  the  possession  of  such  dominion  over  nature. 
The  forester  also  is  acquiring  such  power  even  over 
climate — that  element  on  which  man’s  well-being 
depends  more  than  on  any  other — what  we  expect 
our  children  will  see  vast  tracts  of  country,  which 
through  the  destruction  of  their  forests  have  long 
since  become  arid  and  inhospitable,  or  lapsed  into 
the  state  of  mere  bogs,  restored  to  cultivation  and 
amenity  again,  as  also  other  tracts  which  are  now 
too  cold  and  rainy,  rendered  genial.  Great,  in  fact, 
is  the  power  and  majesty  of  the  forest  tree.  It  is 
the  finest  symbol  which  the  world  supplies  of  the 
undying  state — immortal  life.  No  true  man  can 
have  any  other  feeling  but  that  of  a sacred  respect 
for  a forest  tree.  Among  our  ancestors,  indeed,  or 
at  least  the  inhabitants  of  this  country,  at  that 
time  when  its  history  begins,  this  feeling  was  carried 
too  far.  They  w’orshipped  the  forest  tree.  Or  if 
with  regard  to  them  this  may  be  a question — it  is 
no  question  with  regard  to  our  fellow-subjects  in 
India.  There,  some  religious  sects  worship  certain 
forest  trees  at  the  present  day.  And  it  seems  to 
me  not  improbable  that  this  worship  may  have  been 
instituted  by  the  priesthood  both  as  an  expression 
of  the  veneration  which  they  themselves  felt  for  the 
forest  tree,  and  also  with  a view  to  impress  upon 
the  mass  of  the  people  an  idea  of  the  value  of  trees 
and  forests.  For  the  institutes  of  civilised  heathen 
