THE 
HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 
December \st. 1831. 
PART I. HORTICULTURE, &c. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
Artici-e I. — On the Improvement of Forest Tree Plantations. 
By The Author of "The Domestic Gardener's 
Manual^" a Member of the London Horticultural 
Society. 
Gentlemen, 
On re-perusing the fourth article of your first, and the ninth of 
your second number, by your correspondent Quercus, on the subject of 
Arboriculture, it has occurred to me that I might in a degree, contribute 
to the diffusion of useful information on a subject of such national im- 
portance as that of the cultivation of Timber Trees; and at the same 
time, further your views of "promoting the interests of that branch of 
Natural History, which is connected with the production and improve- 
ment of Forest Scenery." I, in common with your correspondent, 
lament that "wide-spread, and almost universal ignorance," that obsti- 
nate persistence in erroneous practice, which unfortunately prevails; and 
I therefore conceive that I cannot do your readers a more essential ser- 
vice, than to direct their attention to three little works connected with 
the subject of forest ti-ees, which have recently appeared. They are 
from the pen of William Withers, Esq., of Holt, in Norfolk, and are 
equally estimable for the elegance and perspicuity of the style in which 
they are written, as for the sterling worth, and undeniable evidence of 
the facts which they adduce. The first, in the order of its publication, 
was entitled "A Memoir, addressed to the Society for the Encouragement 
of Arts, &c., on the Planting and Rearing of Forest Trees," 1827. 
The second was, "A Letter to Sir Walter Scott, exposing certain errors 
in his late Essay on Planting," &c. S.c. 1828; and the third, "A Letter 
to Sir Henry Stewart, Bart., on the improvement of the Value of Tim- 
ber," &c. i829. 
Voi>. I, No. G- HH 
