tation is positively checked. To speak only of the latter case, which is briefly expressed by the term Cold, it is either produced by absolute lowness of temperature, or, in particular circumstances, by the generation of cold, through the effect of wind, and consequent evaporation from a moist surface; for Trees, in themselves, have but little self-generated heat, above the surrounding temperature. Some they certainly possess, otherwise they would be killed during severe frosts.** Of the above accidents nature can modify the former, by accommodating different species of plants to different latitudes and elevations: Against the latter, she adopts the plan of affording suitable protection to the individual. In the interior of woods, where the free current of air is intercepted, where stillness and serenity are maintained, and where each Tree affords shelter, more or less, to every other, nature has little need to generate the provisions necessary to mitigate the injurious effects of evaporation. But, in open exposures, and in the case of isolated Trees, this effect must be assuaged, and is, in fact, to a certain extent alleviated, by various provisions or properties, bestowed upon the Tree itself. In the first place, a thicker and closer ramification of the sides and top is supplied, and a more abundant spray to

* NOTE III.

wards the stormy quarter, thereby furnishing a kind of clothing of leaves, in order to protect from cold both the ascending, and the descending sapvessels: And, secondly, a greater induration of the Epidermis, and thickness of the cortical layers of the Bark are provided; which, forming a bad conductor of heat, act as a still more effectual defence to the stem, by preventing the immediate and powerful application of cold, through the sudden subtraction of caloric, from the Proper vessels of the inner bark.

In this economy, nature only follows the analogy which she displays, in modifying the influence of cold upon the animal kingdom. The quadrupeds, which are destined to encounter the severity of an Arctic winter, are provided with thick and shaggy coats, to enable them to withstand the intensity of the cold; and all the richest furs, which man employs to supply his natural, or rather his artificial wants, are always furnished by animals inhabiting the highest latitudes, and killed during the severest frosts. What is still more illustrative of the point under consideration is, that the coats of animals, of which the thin and short hair is familiar to us in the temperate climates, such as the dog, the fox, and the ox, are all remarkable, under the polar regions, for their close, lengthened, and almost impenetrable fibre,

F

as a secure barrier of non-conducting matter, to prevent the escape of their vital heat.*

In like manner, in all the other relations, we see Nature especially accommodating the character of each individual plant, to the exigencies of its particular situation. In the interior of woods, the wind can exert a far less mechanical effect on individual Trees; and therefore, while they are positively determined to push upwards towards the light, they are negatively permitted to do so, by the removal of any necessity to thicken their trunks, for the sake of greater strength, and to contract the height of them, in order to afford the blast a shorter lever against the roots. But, with Trees in an open situation, all this is widely different. There they are freely exposed to the wind, and the large expansion of their branches, gives every advantage to the violence of the storm. Nature, accordingly, bestows greater proportional thickness, and less proportional elevation on Trees, which are isolated, or nearly so; while their system of root, which, by necessity, is correlatively proportional to their system of top, affords likewise heavier ballast, and a stronger anchorage, in order to counteract the greater spread of sail, displayed in the wider expansion of the branches.

*NOTE IV.

Every individual Tree is, thus, a beautiful system of qualities, specially relative to the place which it holds in creation; of provisions admirably accommodated to the peculiar circumstances of its case. Here everything is necessary; nothing is redundant. In the words of a great philosopher, who was an accurate observer of nature, "Where the necessity is obviated, the remedy, by consequence, is withdrawn."* If these facts and reasonings be correctly stated, the only rational Theory of the Removal of Large Trees consists, in prospectively maintaining the same harmony between the existing provisions of the Tree, and the exigencies of its new situation, as had previously subsisted between its relative properties, and the circumstances of its former site. That such is the only rule, founded on the principles of Vegetation, that can apply to all circumstances, and all situations, there cannot be a doubt. But, lest the foregoing reasonings should seem rather abstract and general, I will, in order to reduce Theory to Practice, attempt a more popular detail, and descend from the remoter, to the more proximate axioms of the art. In doing this, however, our consideration may be limited to the vegetable kingdom.

Nature, as has been observed, has destined

*NOTE V.

Trees to grow, more or less vigorously, in all situations, from those of the thinnest groups in the highest latitudes, to the densest masses, and the most sheltered woods; and, for this purpose, she has conferred provisions or properties upon each, which are severally adapted to such circumstances. Now, as the business of Transplanting, generally speaking, implies encreased exposure, it is proper to enquire more minutely, into these provisions, so as to enable us to ascertain their peculiar appearance and character, and into the way, in which they affect the growth of Trees.

With this view, it will serve little purpose to draw examples from ordinary plantations. Let us have recourse to ancient Forests and Woodlands, or to Parks long since planted, in which the hand of man has either never interfered, or where the vestiges of his interference have been long obliterated. Here we shall find Trees in every variety of situation, but endued with properties of the most opposite sort. Yet all grow, with relative luxuriance, under the circumstances in which they are placed. Of Trees in the interior of woods, setting aside all technical or phytological distinctions, the following are found to be the general characteristics: Stems upright and stately; Bark glossy and beautiful; Tops small, and thinly provided with Branches; with Roots, in the same way, spare and scanty, but in due proportion to