of the most important arts, which can excite the attention, and exercise the skill, of a polished nation, and one especially, whose very existence may be said to depend on the superiority of its naval force.

It is to be regretted, that the art of Planting in Britain has not been practised on more judicious principles. By many it is still regarded as a secondary branch of Horticulture, unworthy of being separately treated, or attentively studied. By the institution of Societies, where experiments are carefully recorded, and general conclusions deduced from well-authenticated facts, Agriculture, within the last thirty years, has assumed a more regular form and character; and Horticulture, by the same laudable means, promises ere long to rise to the rank of this her elder sister. We may, therefore, reasonably expect, that the time is not far distant, when Arboriculture, being of the same family, will at length share the same distinction; that it will be taken out of ignorant hands, and engage the attention of the ingenious, and the scientific. It is to our southern neighbours that we have been indebted for our knowledge of most of the useful and elegant arts. Let us, in this instance, take the lead ourselves; and, by instituting A SOCIETY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF ARBORICULTURE EXCLUSIVELY, endeavour, in that department, to repay them some portion of those obligations.

It must be acknowledged by every one, who has attended to the subject, that Arboriculture is the art the most truly neglected, in our whole rural management, and that it can never flourish, unless it be studied as a separate profession. Standing, as it certainly does in this country, next in rank and consequence to Agriculture, it will not do as an appendage to any Society whatever, not even to the Highland, or Great National Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures in Scotland. But, were it fortunately placed under a separate and intelligent patronage, the fruits of so judicious an arrangement would ere long become apparent. Well-informed Landholders, useful Foresters, and scientific Nurserymen, would speedily rise up, under the fostering influence of such a Society. Facts as well as principles, which are now known only to the studious phytologist, would become familiar to all, whether owners of woods, or those engaged in their superintendence; and, while the properties of individuals were gradually rendered more productive, a great accession would be made to the general wealth and intelligence of the country.

Gardening in its highest sense, or the art of creating or embellishing Rural Scenery, has, within the last century, been carried to considerable perfection in Britain, and has added one more to the number of the Fine Arts. It was first struck

* NOTE II.

out by the genius of Kent, in the beginning of the last century, after having been long before imagined by Bacon, and finely delineated by Milton.* Subsequently, the art was assiduously cultivated by Brown, Repton, and others of that school, although not altogether on principles, such as should have regulated it; and it is now nearly perfected by the more correct judgment of Price, Knight, and Loudon. Whatever there was of unnatural or formal, whether borrowed from antiquity, or contrived by modern designers, is now banished from the English garden. The professors themselves of his own school have all followed Repton, in tacitly acknowledging the improvements of the age, and in advancing the public taste.†

According to these enlightened principles, Places and Parks, whether old or new, are now laid out. Where woods have stood for centuries, taste and skill have done much to display, and even improve their effects; and incredible labour and expense have been dedicated to the planting of new residences, where another age only can see the ideas of the owners realized. Nothing seems wanting to this charming art, but some successful method of giving a Speedy Effect to Wood, and of bringing the enjoyment of it, in some sort, within the lifetime of any planter, that is, giving it at once a magnitude sufficient for picturesque purposes.

Wood must ever be the grand and effective material of Real Landscape. Over the other materials of picturesque improvement the artist has comparatively little control. With earth he cannot do much. Rocks are by far too ponderous for his management; and water can be commanded, only in certain situations and circumstances. But Trees or Bushes can be raised anywhere; and there is no situation so utterly hopeless, as not to be capable of considerable beauty, from wood planted abundantly and judiciously. In a country, then, like Britain, where every luxury is purchased at so high a price, it may appear surprising, that some certain method of obtaining the Immediate Command of Wood, should still be a desideratum in its ornamental Gardening.

Few men begin to plant in early life, and what is long deferred, many, for that reason, omit to do altogether. He, who inherits or acquires a landestate, is usually desirous to shelter and embellish it. The soldier or the merchant, the statesman or the lawyer, after a life spent in honourable exertion, generally retires to rural scenes, as capable of furnishing the most unmixed enjoyment to the decline of life. To view nature in the rich garb, with which taste and ingenuity now invest her, is always pleasing: But, as it is far more delightful to create than to contemplate, so it often happens, that finished places, where nearly nothing more

is to be done, are not always sought after, by the active and the wealthy. New sites, therefore, are frequently preferred to improved residences, at which the mansion is yet to be built, the farm to be improved, and the park laid out and planted. All feel the pleasure of contriving their own accommodations, and imagining and composing their own landscapes; and they look forward with delight to the time, when they may witness the full accomplishment of the latter, by the wood arriving at maturity. By the planter himself, however, a gratification so exquisite can hardly be expected; and that discouraging idea cannot fail greatly to damp his enjoyments.

To such persons especially, and to all men possessed of land-property, the Immediate Effect of Wood must appear a considerable object, if any method can be devised to obtain it with success and certainty. What, then, would such persons say, were they informed, that so obscure a practice as that of TRANSPLANTING could do this; that an entire Park could be thus wooded at once, and forty years of life anticipated? The fact is, that the possibility of the improvement, and much more have been verified, by pretty extensive experience. Groups and single Trees have been scattered every where in such a Park at pleasure, in all sorts of soils and exposures, and applied to the composition or the improvement of Real Landscape. Instead of