Now, this is Sir Henry’s practice. What is there here meriting the name of discovery? All the world knew long ago, that trees drawn up tall and delicate, in sheltered situations, were unfit for an open exposure, especially when of considerable size. We have ourselves dug trenches round trees, and picked the earth from the rootlets with pointed instruments, preserving as far as possible every fibre entire. We have often collected fine mould and composts upon the ground previous to planting, and trenched over the soil; we have carefully arranged the {253} rootlets, and packed in our prepared mould; we have noticed that mutilating the top of certain kinds of trees was very pernicious, particularly of the beech and the oak; we have invariably turned round the heaviest branches to the west; we have mulched and watered the first summer, and have hoed around the plants for years afterwards; conveyance by a two-wheeled timber-drag has been long in use (we have employed the axle and wheels of a common cart); many, before Sir Henry, have prepared the roots by previous cutting; what planter of experience is ignorant of all this? We grant Sir Henry has done all this well; much of it must have occurred to himself, as it has done to us, as it will do to any person of ordinary acuteness and observation, but does this merit the name of discovery, or comparison with steam and gas? We shall now give some little attention to a subject on which we consider Sir Henry’s claim to the rank of philosophic discoverer solely rests, and which he introduces to our notice certainly with sufficient prefatory flourish, under the designation of his “new principle,” “his rational theory,” which he predicts will raise transplanting of trees of considerable size to the rank of a useful art, it being thus founded on fixed principles. In order to bring the matter fairly {254} before the mind of our readers, we are under the necessity of having recourse to a long quotation. We fear our readers will find Sir Henry’s metaphysics not very intelligible; but this may well be forgiven, we are all too guilty of plunging about when we get into deep water, and some of us have not always sense enough to swim with the stream. We here introduce a quotation of our author: