This, no doubt, is a very favourable state of component parts; although we might have expected a greater proportion of decomposing Vegetable matter, and perhaps of Carbonate of Lime. Considerable Depth may be supposed to exist above the substratum, which it is surprising that Mr Pontey should have omitted to mention. In as far as the growth of timber is concerned, any account may be considered as very imperfect, without a specification of it.

NOTE II. Page 156.

The antients, although they knew little of the history and properties, and still less of the anatomy and internal structure of Plants, were yet sufficiently conversant with Arboriculture, as an art of practice, and particularly, they removed Large Trees with as great success, as any of our planters of the present day. Accordingly we find, that many of the best rules and maxims, in our Books on Planting, are taken from their writings. A more judicious one there cannot be, than that here mentioned in the text, namely, always to give, to a transplanted Tree, a soil better than what it had before removal. Columella says, Prudêntis coloni est, ex deteriori terrá potiùs in meliorem, quàm ex meliore in deteriorem, transferre. De Re Rust. L. III. 5. Pliny delivers the same maxim, but seems to consider similarity of soil as more important to be studied, even than superiority, for the new site; in which, however, he is not borne out by experience. Ante omnia, in similem transferri terram, aut meliorem oportet: Nec è tepidis autp ræcocibus, in frigidos aut serotinos situs, ut neque ex his in illos. Hist. Na

tur. L. XVII. 11. See also Theophrast. Isgì DUTY 'IoTogías.

L. II. 7.

NOTE III. Page 170.

I conceive that I have made a considerable improvement on the ordinary method of Trenching or Double-digging of ground, whether for horticultural or arboricultural purposes. Common Gardeners' Trenching is often a mere turning up and turning down of the soil, in regular strata, without effecting any pulverization or comminution of the parts; and, although it deepens, it generally does nothing more, especially when the trenching is done on grass-grounds. The method, which I have practised with great effect, for twenty years, I can much recommend to others.

In trenching eighteen inches deep (and any thing less is of little use), instead of keeping the bottom of the trench eighteen inches wide, or, as it is generally done, only a foot, I would have it kept Two feet wide; and, instead of executing the two spits deep successively, with a regular shovelling after each, I would have Three spits executed, but with a good Scotch spade (as it is called), of which the mouth is at least ten inches in length. The solid side of the trench is, of course, cut perpendicular; but the loose side, or face of the work, should be kept at a slope, not less than an angle of fifty or sixty degrees, in such a way, as that, in throwing on the contents, the surface mould may crumble down, and in some sort mix with the entire mass excavated. When I thought of this method twenty years ago, the workmen objected to the execution of three spits deep, at the same price per Fall (Anglicè pole), as had been paid for two spits. But, on persuading them to try, they discovered, that, instead of being more, it was less laborious than the two spits, with the two shovellings; and thus, after a little practice, I was enabled to add another inch, and sometimes two, to the depth of the work, for the same money, and likewise to obtain a far greater comminution of the parts. Since that time, we never trench according to any other method here; and the

benefit resulting from it has induced others to adopt the prac

tice.

In looking into a late useful publication (the Encyclopedia of Gardening), I am glad to perceive, that the principle here recommended, I mean the intimate mixture of the soil, is fully recognized, in a style of Trenching, which, how excellent soever in itself, is on rather too large and expensive a scale for general use. By the description given of it, and the Figure annexed (No. 236 of that work), the depth must be at least three and a half, or four feet, on the solid side. The soil and subsoil are all to be loosened with the pick, and shovelled up to the opposite side, by the workman, who, for that purpose, must stand in the bottom of the trench; and this last is to be about three feet wide. The directions, however, are so excellent, that I shall beg leave to quote them in the words of the author, as important to those, who have Trenching to perform, whatever be the scale of the execution. "To effect this most completely, (meaning admixture), the operator should always stand in the bottom of the trench, and first picking down, and mixing the materials from the solid side, should next take them up with the shovel, and throw them on the slope, or face of the mixed soil, keeping a distinct space of two or three feet between them. For want of attention to this, in trenching new soils for gardens and plantations, it may be truly said, that half the benefit derivable from the operation is lost." Part II. B. 4. p. 409.

To get trenching well executed, is almost as difficult as to get good masonry, in the wall of a house. The deceptions practised, and the errors apt to be committed in both, do not appear upon the surface, and are visible only in their pernicious effects, at an after period. The great difficulty, which I have always found, in getting trenching tolerably done by contract, consists in the three following things: First, to get the workmen to go deep enough, according to the number of inches stipulated; measuring, of course, on the solid side, and from the under side of a ruler, laid level with the surface. Secondly, to get them to unite their trench underground fully with the one that preceded it, and not to leave small slips or mounds of earth (" Bridges," as they call them) of three and four inches in height, between

the trenches; which mounds, being always of unstirred subsoil, and therefore impermeable by water, are apt to interrupt the free course of the moisture, which in damp or rainy weather, must flow at the bottom of the trench. Thirdly, to get them to execute the stipulated depth, by means of three spits only, and not to have recourse to shovelling, by which far less admixture is brought about. The best way of surmounting these difficulties is, to encourage emulation among the workmen, by giving premiums to those who excel the most, over and above the rate contracted for, and to inflict severe penalties upon others, by whom bad work is given, or intentional deception practised.

NOTE IV. Page 177.

In the foregoing Note, a good deal has been said, respecting the best method of executing Trenching. I will now make a few observations, on one of the most important and interesting objects, to which that process can be applied, I mean the removal of Rushes from land. A greater impediment to agricultural as well as arboricultural improvement cannot exist, than this unsightly weed; because, wherever there are Rushes, there must be superfluous moisture; and that excess of an indispensable element, is equally hostile to abundant grain-crops, good pasturage, and good Wood.

To point out a method of eradicating the Rush effectually is a problem, that has not as yet been solved by men in either of these departments. The causes which occasion it are two-fold; first, Underground Water; in which case, it is completely removed by draining: And, secondly, Tenacity of Soil, which retains moisture, as if in a cup; a species of evil, for which no cure has ever been found. Observing, some years ago, that, on no land where the subsoil was completely dry, were any Rushes ever known to spring up; and reasoning on the indisputable maxim, that Sublatá causâ, tollitur effectus, I conceived, that if any means could be devised to carry off superfluous moisture, from underneath the soil, and to carry it off speedily, the Rushes would disappear, as a matter of course. Experience had shown that, from under-ground drains, however carefully executed, no

such effect would follow; because numerous examples exist of persons, who, from an anxiety to lay dry particular fields, have intersected them with drains in all directions, within five and six feet of one another, and still Rushes have sprung up, even on the tops of their drains. Nothing, therefore, promised to be effectual, except some method of rendering the entire subsoil a drain, and thus carrying off the water which descended from the higher grounds, or fell from the sky, before it had time to stagnate.

For this important purpose, deep Trenching seemed particularly well adapted; as the first principle of it consists, in reversing the order of the natural strata, and putting down, to any given depth, the loose and friable soil, which has been the subject of culture. By that means, a subsoil of an entirely different quality, namely, the fine mould of the surface, would at once be created at the bottom of the Trench, and through which the superfluous water, formerly retained by impervious strata, would now readily percolate. Besides this, another object of immense interest presented itself, and that was, the sudden and effectual alteration, and therefore melioration of the soil, from wet to dry, from stiff to porous: And if it were true, as already stated, that "the best soil, whether for wood or agricultural crops, was one, that is at once loose and deep," here both Depth and Looseness would at once be obtained, with the power of retaining water only to the proper extent, and exerting a great chemical agency for the preservation of manures.

My first experiment, in reducing this theory to practice, was made on about two acres of old meadow land, on which Rushes had been abundant from time immemorial, from two to three feet high. Having previously ascertained that there were no under-ground springs, I directed the whole to be trenched, eighteen inches deep. The trenching was effectively executed in the line of the slope or declination of the surface, so that, if any interstitial mounds of subsoil (See the foregoing Note) had been inadvertently left in the bottom, no obstruction, after rain, should be given to the speedy descent of the water. The surface mould not being above six inches deep, the whole was deposited by the first spit, at the bottom of the trench. The next six inches consisted of strong loamy clay, and were thrown immediately