The actual extent of surface, to which this cursory delineation refers, does not exceed from forty to fifty acres; but the intricacy and variety, created solely by various dispositions of Wood upon an uneven surface, confer on it, to the eye, indefinite limits. In illustration of this remark, the reader is referred to the Frontispiece, Plate I., where he will find a View of the Park here, taken in 1827, from the western side of the Lake; and soon after the planting of the steep bank or head in that quarter, as is designated by the Transplanting Machine still remaining on the ground. The spot is nearly opposite to that, from which it was viewed by the Committee of the Highland Society. The whole of the park thus seen was wooded by the Machine, whether in masses, or detached groups of Trees, between the years 1816 and 1821, but chiefly in the latter, excepting only the distant or bounding lines of plantations, over which a few old Trees are here and there seen to elevate their heads.

This view conveys much more distinctly to the mind, than any verbal description could do, the power which the Art possesses of giving IMMEDIATE EFFECT to the scenery of a place, and even of giving it NEW scenery. It is an Art, which will be duly appreciated by those, who have studied landscape; and it will appear the more striking on a subject, which is tame at best, and, in the design

er's phrase, of very limited "capability." What, then, would be the effect on other subjects, to which nature has been more bountiful, and whose general character is more interesting, or more romantic?

It has been said (and in ordinary cases with justice) of the art of the Painter, that it has a marked superiority over that of the Designer of Real Landscape. The former, it is argued, can finish his pictures at pleasure; whereas the latter must depend, for the completion of his, on the slow progress of time, added to the uncertain effects of both soil and climate. But it clearly appears, that the position is disproved here, by the extraordinary power of the Transplanting Machine, the facilities of both artists being thereby placed nearly on an equality in respect to Wood, the principal material in the formation of all landscapes.

With facts like the above, verified on such high and respectable evidence as that of the Highland Society of Scotland, we may venture to believe, that the practice of Transplanting, as now improved, and raised to the rank of an Art, is calculated to become far more generally useful than has hitherto been imagined. And further, it is probable, that it will form an important ally to Gardening in its highest sense, and the most effective engine, which the Designer has ever yet employed, to realize his landscapes.

SECTION II.

HISTORY OF THE ART, FROM THE EARLIEST DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIMES.

WHEN we consider the singular beauty and usefulness of Trees, it cannot seem surprising, that they should have been the favourites of mankind in all ages. That the polished nations of antiquity assiduously cultivated them, we have the most unquestionable evidence, both for horticultural and agricultural purposes. Theophrastus, who was the scholar of Plato and Aristotle, composed an elaborate Treatise on the History and Properties of Plants, which, together with the Remains of the Greek Geoponic writers, has survived the wreck of learning, and evinces, how superior a knowledge of the subject prevailed, among that ingenious people.

Among the Romans, the cultivation of Trees formed an early object of attention. By the laws of the Twelve Tables, the cutting down or injuring them was an offence, which was visited with

B

severe penalties.* Cato, Varro, and Columella wrote particularly on both Fruit and Forest-Trees; and Varro, who was contemporary with Julius Cæsar, enumerates more than fifty different writers on Rural affairs (of which Arboriculture was a constituent part), who in his time were held in estimation.†

In this state of rural information and intelligence, it was natural for men to form the wish to give immediate effect to Trees, and thereby anticipate the slow progress of time, in bringing them to perfection. Accordingly, the practice of Removing them of a large size, instead of being, as is generally supposed, a modern invention, lays claim to the honours of a high antiquity. When the Greeks or Romans wanted to designate anything that was impossible, or, at least, extremely difficult to be performed, they said, that it was like "Transplanting an Old Tree ;" and their usual way of applying the adage clearly shows, that their experience of the success of the operation was not greatly different from our own, at this moment. ‡

In presenting to the reader a cursory view of the progress of the practice, from the earliest times down to the present, it is plain, that we are too little acquainted with the state of arts and manners in antient times, to be able to draw very co

* NOTE I.

+ De Re Rust. C. I.

‡ NOTE II.

piously from what has been called the classical ages. The Greeks certainly were unacquainted with the Painting of Landscape, notwithstanding the surprising height, to which they carried other departments of the art, and consequently with the picturesque effect of Trees. At Rome, Landscape Painting was first practised, only in the time of Augustus; and, indeed, it does not seem to have been cultivated, in any striking degree, by this extraordinary people, at least, if we may judge from the specimens, found at Herculaneum and Pompeii, at a later period of the empire. The antients, although they sufficiently understood and cultivated Wood, applied it much more to useful, than to ornamental purposes.

The Transplanting of Trees of a large size, appears to have been of considerable importance to the Roman husbandman. Pliny, who wrote during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, speaks of Elms twenty feet high, in the neighbourhood of Rome, being commonly removed into the vineyard, for the training of vines. They were planted, he says, in a trench called Novenarius; because they stood in it nine feet every way from one another: Which trench was three feet deep, and as many broad, or more, with a bank of earth, raised round the stem, like the seats used by the peasants in Campania; a judicious contrivance, both

* NOTE III.