Page images
PDF
EPUB

fins of that tree. Nevertheless, if it stood in the days of King John, fix centuries ago, and was then called the Great Chefnut *, we may venture to suppose it not much less than one thousand years of age; and further, if we confider the quick growth of the Chefnut compared with that of the Oak, and at the fame time the inferior bulk of the Tortworth Chefnut to the Cowthorp, the Bentley, and the Boddington Oaks; may we not venture to infer, that the existence of these truly venerable trees commenced fome centuries prior to the era of Christianity?

"The root of the Oak ftrikes deep, especially the middle or tap-root, which has been traced to a depth nearly equal to the height of the tree itfelf: nor do the lateral roots run so shallow and horizontal as thofe of the Afh and other trees; but perhaps the roots of very few trees range wider than thofe of the Oak. The ftem of the Oak is naturally fhort, and if left to itself, in an opea fituation, it will generally feather to the ground. It has not that upright tendency as the Afh, the Efculus, and the Pine-tribe: nevertheless, by judicious pruning, or by planting in clofe order, the Oak will acquire a great length of ftem: in this cafe, how. ever, it rarely fwells to any confiderable girt. Mr. Marsham indeed mentions one in the Earl of Powys' Park near Ludlow, which in 1757 measured, at five feet, fixteen feet three inches, and which ran quite straight and clear of arms near or full fixty feet. But, as has before been observed, Oaks which endure for ages have generally fhort ftems; throwing out, at fix, eight, ten, or twelve feet high, large horizontal arms; thickly fet with crooked branches; terminating in clubbed abrupt twigs; and closely covered with smooth gloffy leaves; forming the richeft foliage, irregularly fwelling into the boideft outline we know of in nature. The Pine-tribe and the Efculus may be called elegant or beautiful; but the general affemblage of a lofty full-furnished Oak is truly fublime. "It is fomewhat extraordinary, that the most ornamental tree in nature should, at the fame time, be the most useful to mankind, Its very leaves have been lately found to be of effential use to the gardener; the husbandman is well acquainted with the value of its acorns; and every Englishman experiences daily the useful effects of its bark. It is wholly unneceffary to mention the value of its timber; it is known to the whole world. The Oak raised us once to the fummit of national glory and now we ought to hold in remembrance that our exiftence as a nation depends upon the Oak. If therefore our

fore-fathers, merely from the magnitude ana majesty of its appearance, the veneration due to its age, and gratitude perhaps for fome few economical ufes they might apply it to, paid divine honours to this tree; how much more behoves it us, circumftanced as we are, to pay due homage to this our national faviour! How could our Kings be invested with the enfigns of royalty, or our Creator receive at ftated times the gratitude and praise which we owe to him, with greater propriety than under the fhadow of this facred tree? Acts like thefe would ftamp it with that refpectability and veneration which is due to it: and to corroborate these ideas, as well as to inftitute fuch laws as might be found neceffary, the ftate of the growth of Oak in Great Britain ought to be a standing enquiry of the British Legislature. It is far from being impracticable to have annual returns of Oak fit for fhip-building in every parish in the kingdom; with the diftance it ftands from water-carriage. It avails but little our making laws of police, or forming foreign alliances, unless we take care to fecure in perpetuity the defence of our own coast. It is idle to think of handing down to posterity a national independency, if we do not at the fame time furnish them with the means of preserving it.

"The Propagation of the English Oak. We do not purpose in this place to give directions for raising woods or plantations of Oak: this we referve until we come to treat of plantations in general, under the title Woodlands; for by collecting the more ufeful trees into one point of view, we shall be better able to judge of their comparative value; and the methods of raising the feve. ral fpecies for the purpose of timber (fhiptimber excepted) being nearly the same, we fhall be enabled to give our directions more fully, yet upon the whole much more concifely, than we could have done, had we retailed them feparately under each article : therefore, we mean to abide by the fame rule under the prefent head that we have obferved throughout this part of our work ; namely, to treat of the plant under confideration merely as a nursery plant."

The choice of acorns-the prefervation of acorns-time of fowing-method of fowing the operations of tranfplanting into, and training in the nursery, &c. &c. are distinctly laid down. The varieties of the fpecies Quercus Robur are then defcribed; which done, the Section English Oak is clofed. The willow-leaved oak and the other deciduous kinds are next defcribed; but the mode of propagating the feveral species of deciduous

"As Tradition fays it was."

E 2

foreign

foreign oaks being the fame, a repetition of it becomes unneceffary; and we accordingly find it placed in ample terms at the clofe of this Clafs of Quercus: finally, the ever-green fpecies pass under description, and the article clofes with general directions for their propagation.

Having, in a fimilar way, gone through the entire Alphabet of Plants, (containing feveral hundred fpecies) the author proceeds to treat generally of the fubject of plantations; but previous to his entering upon this important fubject, he endeavours to afcertain the Species of TIMBER most proper to be raised. "Timber (he fays) is the great and primary object of planting. Ornament, abftracted from utility, ought to be confined within narrow limits. Indeed, in matters of planting, efpecially in the taller plantations, it were difficult to feparate entirely the idea of ornament from that of ufe. Trees in general are capable of producing an ornamental effect; and there is no tree which may not be faid to be more or lefs ufeful. But their difference in point of value when arrived at maturity is incomparable; and it would be the height of folly to plant a tree whofe characteristic is principally ornamental, when another which is more ufeful and equally ornamental may be planted in itsstead.

"Therefore, previous to our entering at large upon the business of planting, it will be proper to endeavour to specify the trees most useful to be planted. In attempting this we must look forward, and endeavour to afcertain the fpecies and proportional quantities of Timber which will hereafter be wanted, when the trees now to be planted fhall have reached maturity. To do this with a degree of certainty is impoffible; cuftoms and fashions alter as caprice and neceffity dictate. All that appears capable of being done in a matter of this nature is, to trace the great outlines, and, by obferving what has been permanently useful for ages paft, judge what may, in all human probability, be alfo ufeful in ages to come.

Ships,
Buildings,

Machines, and
Utensils,

have been, are, and most probably will continue to be, the confumers of Timber in this country. We will therefore endeavour to come at the principal materials made ufe of in the conftruction of these four great conveniences of life."

Each article is then taken feparately under confideration-analyfed into its feveral branches-and the proportional confumption of each branch afcertained with confiderable exaftnefs; the writer clofing this novel, but neceffery, article in a Treatife on Planting with the Ellowing obfervations;

"We do not deliver the foregoing sketch as a perfectly correct account of the application of woods in this country: The attempt is new, and that which is new is difficult. We have not omitted to confult with profeffional men upon the fubject; and we believe it to be fufficiently accurate for the purpose of the planter. If we have committed any material error, we ask to be fet right. We do not wish to defcend to minutie: it would be of little fignification to the planter, to be told what toys and toothpicks are made from: it is of much more importance to him to know, that, of English Woods, the Oak is moft in demand, perhaps three to one,perhaps in a much greater proportion; that the Ah, the Elm, the Beech, and the Box, follow next; and that the Chefnut, the Walhut, and the Prunus and Pinus tribes are principally valuable as fubftitutes for Oak and Foreign Timber. It likewife may not be improper in this place to mention, that the Oak, though of flower growth than the Ash, the Elm, the Beech, the Larch, the Firs, and the Aquatics, is nearly of twice the va lue of any of these woods at market; therefore, in a private and pecuniary point of view, the Oak is the most eligible tree to be planted: in a public light, it rifes above comparison."

The bufinefs of the live-hedge, bedge-row timber, the wood, timber-grove, coppice, ozies ė bed, woody-wafte; together with the felling and falling of timber, are all diftinctly, fully, and practically treated of. As a fpecimen, we will lay before our readers the author's method of pruning hedge-row timber-trees, a work which appears to us to be lefs understood than any other department of rural œconomy.

"The method of training the young plants has already been defcribed; it now only remains to fay a few words as to the pruning and fetting-up Hedge-row timbers.

"Low-headed trees have been already condemned, as being injurious to the Hedge, as well as to the Corn which grows under them. To remove or alleviate thefe evils without injuring the tree itfelf, requires the best skill of the woodman. The ufual method is to hack off the offending bough; no matter how nor where; but, most probably, a few inches from the body of the tree, with an axe; leaving the end of the stump ragged, and full of clifts and fiffures, which by receiving and retaining the wet that drips upon them, render the wound incurable. The mortification in a fhort time is communicated to the ftem, in which a recefs or hollow being once formed, fo as to receive and retain water, the decline of the tree, though other

wile

wife in its prime, from that time must be dated; and, if not prefently taken down, its properties as a timber tree will, in a few years, be changed into thofe of fire-wood only. How many thousand timber-trees ftand at this hour in the predicament here de. fcribed, merely through injudicious lopping. It is this vile treatment which has brought Hedge-row timber into a difrepute otherwife undeferved.

"There is a wonderful fimilarity in the operations of Nature upon the Vegetable and Animal Creation. A flight wound in the Animal Body foon heals up, and skins over, whilst the wound fucceeding the amputation of a limb is with difficulty cicatrized. The effects are fimilar with respect to the Vegetable Body: a twig may be taken off with fafety, whilft the amputation of a large bough will endanger the life of the tree. Again, pare off a small portion of the outer bark of a young thriving tree, the firft fummer's, fap will heal up the wound: if a fmall twig had been taken off with this patch of bark, the effect would have been nearly the fame; the wound would have been cicatrifed, or barked over, in a fimilar manner; and the body of the tree as fafely fecured from outward injury, as if no fuch amputation had taken place. Even a confiderable branch may be taken off in this manner with impunity, provided the furface of the wound be left fmooth and flush with the inner bark of the Tree; for, in a few years, it will be completely clofed up, and secured from injury; though an efchar may remain for fome years longer. But if a large bough be thus fevered, the wound is left fo wide, that it requires in moft trees a length of time to hark it over; during which time the body of the tree having increased in fize, the parts immediately round the wound become turgid, whilft the face of the wound itfelf is thrown back into a recefs; and, whenever this becomes deep enough to hold water, from that time the wound is rendered incurable: Nature has, at least, done her part; and whether or not, in this cafe, affiftance may be given by opening the lower lip of the wound, remains yet (it is probable) to be tried by experiment: until that be ascertained, or fome other certain method of cure be known, it were the height of imprudence to risk the welfare of a tree on fuch hazardous treatment.

has fwelled over the ftump, or the ftump has rotted away to the ftem; and, either way, a mortification is the probable conféquence. Even fuppofing the stump to live, either by means of fome twig being left upon it, or from fresh shoots thrown out, the cicatrization, even in this cafe, will be flow (depending entirely upon the feeble efforts of the bark of the stump); and before it can be accomplished, the Tree itself may be in danger. But, had the amputation been made at a difiance from the ftem, and immediately above a twig, strong enough to draw up a fupply of fap, and keep the ftump alive upon a certainty, no rifque would have been incurred; especially if the end of the ftump had been left fmooth, with the flope on the under-fide, fo that no water could hang, nor receís be formed.

Further, although a branch of confiderable fize may be taken off close to the body of the tree with fafety; yet if the fame branch be cut a few inches from it, the effect is not the fame; for, in this cafe, the stump generally dies; confequently the cicatrization cannot take place, until the ftem of the tree

"From what has been faid, the following general rules with refpect to setting up low-headed trees may, we humbly conceive, be drawn with fafety: fmall boughs fhould be cut off clofe to the flem: but large ones at a diftance from it, and above a lateral branch large enough to keep the flump alive. Thus, fuppofing the stem of a tree in full growth to be the fize of a man's waift, a bough the thickness of his writt may be taken off with fafety near the ftem; but one as thick as his thigh fhould be cut at the diftance of at leaft two feet from it; leaving a fide branch at least an inch in diameter with a top in proportion, and with air and head-room enough to keep it in a flourishing ftate. For this purpofe, as well as for the general purpofe of throwing light into the head, the standing boughs fhould be cleared from their lower branches, particularly fuch as grow in a drooping direction. In doing this no great caution is required; for in taking a bough from a bough, let their fizes be what they may, little rifque can be thereby incurred upon the main body of the tree.

"There is another general rule with regard to pruning trees. The bough fhould be taken off either by the upward ftroke of a sharp instrument (and generally fpeaking, at one blow), or with a faw: in the latter cafe it fhould previously be notched on the underfide, to prevent its fplitting off in the fall, If the bough to be taken off be very large, the fafest way (though fomewhat tedious) is firft to cut it off a few inches from the ftem with an axe, and then to clear away the stump clofe and level with a faw, doing away the roughneffes left by the teeth of the faw with a plane, or with the edge of a broad-mouthed axe, in order to prevent the wet from hanging in the wound. A faw for this purpose fhould be fet very wide; otherwise it will not make its way through the green wood.

"The

"The fittest opportunity for pruning and fetting up young timbers, as well as for taking down pollards and dotard timbers, and clearing away other incumbrances, is when the Hedge itself is felled; and it were well for landed individuals (as for the nation at large) if no Hedge was fuffered to be cut down without the whole bufinefs of the Hedge-row being at the fame time properly executed."

As we have already protracted this article to an unusual length, we must now take our leave of the more useful part of this perform ance, and proceed to give fome account of that part which treats of ornamental gardening, at prefent a fashionable subject, and must for ever be a fubject honourable to this country.

Antients were admivers of Nature in a flate of wildness; for, whenever they attempted to embellish Nature, they appear to have been guided by a kind of Otaheitean talte; as the gardens of the Greeks and Romans, like those of the modern nations (until of late years in this country), convey to us no other idea than that of Nature taton'd. *

"Mr. Burgh, in a Note to his ingenious Commentary upon Mr. Mafon's beautiful poem The English Garden, confirms us in these ideas; and, by a quotation from the Younger Pliny, fhews the juft notions the Antients entertained of the powers of human invention, in affociating and polishing the rougher fcenes of Nature: for, after giving us a beautiful defcription of the natural fcenery round his Tufcan villa, upon the banks of the Tiber, he acknowledges" the view be"fore him to resemble a picture beautifully "composed, rather than a work of Nature "accidentally delivered.”

"Mankind no fooner find themselves in faft poffeffion of the neseffaries of life, than they begin to feel a want of its conveniencies ; and these obtained, seldom fail of indulging in one or more of its various refinements. Some men delight in the luxuries of the imagination; others in those of the fenfes. One man finds his wants supplied in the delicacies of the table, whilft another flies to perfumes and effences for relief: few men are infenfi. ble to the gratifications of the ear; and men in general are susceptible of those of the eye. The imitative arts of painting and sculpture have been the study and delight of civilized nations in all ages; but the art of embellish-edly, all our own. ing Nature herself has been reserved for this age, and for this nation!

"A fact the more astonishing, as ornamented Nature is as much fuperior to a Painting or a Statue, as a "Reality is to a Reprefentation ;"-as the Man himself is to his Portrait. That the striking features the beauties--of Nature, whenever they have been feen, have always been admired by men of fenfe and refinement, is undoubtedly true; but why the good offices of Art, in difclofing thefe beauties, and setting off those features to advantage, fhould have been fo long confined to the human perfon alone, is, of all other facts in the Hiftory of Arts and Sciences, the most extraordinary.

"The Tranflator of D'Ermenoville's Effay on Landscape has attempted to prove, in an introductory difcourfe, that the art is nothing new, for that it was known to the Antients, though not practifed But the evidences he produces go no farther than to fhew, that the

"We have been told that the English Garden is but a copy of the Gardens of the Chinese: this, however, is founded in Gailic envy rather than in truth; for though their ftyle of Gardening may not admit of ta. tooings and topiary works †, it has as little to do with natural scenery as the garden of air ancient Roman, or a modern Frenchman: -The Art of affling Nature is, undoubt

It cannot fail of proving highly interesting to our Readers, to trace the rife of this delightful art.

"Mr.Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting in England, has favoured the public with The Hiftory of modern Tafte in Gardening. A pen guided by fo masterly a hand must ever be productive of information and entertainment when employed upon a subject so truly interefting as that which is now before us. Defirous of conveying to our Readers all thẹ information which we can comprefs with propriety within the limits of our plan, we wifhed to have given the fubftance of this valuable paper; but finding it already in the language of fimplicity, and being aware of the mischiefs which generally enfue in meddling with the productions of genius, we had only one alternative; either wholly to tranfcribe, or wholly to reject. This we could not do, in ftrict juftice to our readers; for, befides giving us, in detail, the advance

*«The inhabitants of Otaheitee, an island in the Southern hemisphere, ornament their bodies by making punctures in the skin with a fharp-pointed inftrument, and call it tatowing. The African Negroes are still groffer in their ideas of ornament, gafhing their cheeks and temples in a manner fimilar to that practifed by the English Butcher in ornamenting a shoulder of mutton, or a Dutch gardener in embellishing the environs of a mansion."

+ "Trees carved by a Topiarius into the form of beats, birds, &c."

ment

ment of the art, it throws confiderable light upon the art itself; and being only a small part of a work upon a different fubject, it is the lefs likely to fall into the hands of thofe to whom it cannot fail of proving highly interefting. We are, therefore, induced to exceed our intended limits in this refpect, by making a literal tranfcript; and hope, in the liberality of the author, to be pardoned for fo doing."-We have it in our power to add, from the best authority, that the honourable author, with a liberality peculiar to himfelf, gave his permiflion for the republication ef this admirable paper.

every thing may be natural, and every thing adapted to the place; the degree of refinement conftituting the principal difference.

"We do not mean to enter into any argument about whether a state of rufticity or a ftate of refinement, whether the foreft or the city be the state for which the Author of Nature intended the human fpecies: mankind are now found in every state and in every stage of favageness, rufticity, civilization, and refinement; and the particular ftyle of ornament we wish to recommend is, that which is best adapted to the state of refinement that now prevails in this country; leaving individuals to vary it as their own peculiar taftes may direct."

Having thus introduced his fubject, the writer proceeds to treat of the article Grounds Under the head General Application, we under the following heads: General princi ples,-fite,-ground,-water,—wood,-natu- find among many others, the following general rules of practice.

-orna

ral accompaniments,—artificial accompaniments, -general application,—kunting-box,mented cottage,-villa,—principat refidence ; concluding his performance with a defcription (and propofed improvements) of Pertefield. (See Vol. VIII. page 15.) Under the head General Principles, we meet with the following obfervations:

« Arts merely imitative have but one prin. ople to work by, the nature or actual state of the thing to be imitated. In works of defign and invention, another principle takes the lead, which is tafte. And in every work in which mental gratification is not the only object, a third principle arifes, wtility, or the concomitant purpose for which the production is intended.

"The art of Gardening is fubject to these the principles: to nature, as being an imitative art; to utility, as being productive of objects which are feful as well as ornamental; and to tafte, in the choice of fit objects to be imitated, and of fit purposes to be purfted, as alio in the compofition of the feveral objects and ends propofed, fo as to produce the degree of gratification and use best suited to the place and to the purpose for which it is about to be ornamented: thus, a Hunting Box and a Summer Villa,-an Ornamented Cottage and a Manfion, require a different Fyle of ornament, a different choice of objects, a different tafie. Nor can tafte be confined to nature and utility, the place and the purpule, alone; the object of the Pole Arts is the gratification of the human mind, and the state of refinement of the mind itfelf muft be considered. Men`s notions vary, not only in different ages, but individually in the fame age: :: what would have gratified mankind a century ago in this country, will not please them now; whilft the Country 'Squire and the Fine Gentleman of the present day re. quire a different kind of gratification: neverthlefs, under thefe various circumstances,

"It is unneceffary to repeat, that whereever Nature or accident has already adapted the place to the intended purpose, the affiftance of Art is precluded: but wherever Nature is improveable, Art has an undoubted right to step in, and make the requifite improvement. The diamond, in its natural ftate, is highly improveable by art.

A human

"In the lower claffes of rural improvements, Art should be feen as little as may be; and in the more negligent fcenes of Nature, every thing ought to appear as if it had been done by the general laws of Nature, or had grown out of a feries of fortuitous circumRances. But, in the higher departments, Art cannot be hid; and the appearance of defign ought not to be excluded. production cannot be made perfectly natural ; and, held out as such, it becomes an impofition. Our art lies in endeavouring to adapt the productions of Nature to human taste and perceptions; and, if much art be ufed, do not attempt to hide it. Who confiders an accomplished well-dreffed woman as in a ftate of Nature? and who, fe.ing a beautiful ground adorned with wood and lawn, with water, bridges, and buildings, believes it to be a natural production? Art feldom fails to please when executed in a masterly manner: nay, it is frequently the defign and execution, more than the production itself, that trikes us. It is the artifice, not the defign, which ought to be avoided. It is the labour, and not the art, which ought to be concealed. A well-written poem would be read with lefs pleasure, if we knew the painful exertions it gave rife to in the compofition; and the rural artift ought, upon every occafion, to endeavour to avoid labour; or, if indifpenfibly necellary, to conceal it, No trace fhould be left to lead back the mind

to the expensive toil. A mound raised, a mountain levelled, or a useless temple built,

convey

« PreviousContinue »