we find our pleasure in their society still increasing, both for the natural delight their age of innocent enjoyment affords to us, and for the contrast they lend to that other society which we once too much frequented and too ardently enjoyed; which we spread out our most glittering fascinations to gain, which we exhausted our best resources to enliven, on which we lavished our warmest affections, which we trusted with our choicest hopes, and which repaid us with neglect, estrangement, and ingratitude. Often do we recall to our minds that pretty expression of Goldsmith's, in the most charming of all tales of fiction that time ever made immortal, which calls children "harmless little men;" and what we say and think of them, and what love we bestow on them, and what delight we have in their society, we are willing (we speak for ourselves) to partake also with that part of the animal creation which is most intimately known to us, and with which, by habit or choice, we have the nearest connexion. In an old man's heart the passions of life should have left a home in which they can no longer with propriety live; and then the recollections and feelings of early life, long banished and long for. gotten, will rush in again to repair what has been injured, to refresh what has been weakened, and to shed a soft and evening light upon the closing day. This is the euthanasia so ardently to be wished, and this alone can repair the broken harmony of man's nature, and render it fit for immortality in that world of spirits to which it is hastening. How delightfully has the friend of Fox* described the innocent recreations that amused the leisure and occupied the attention of the retired and aged statesman.

"Thee at St. Anne's, so soon of care beguil❜d,
Playful, sincere, and artless as a child;
Thee, who could watch a bird's nest on the
spray,

Through the green leaves exploring day by day;
Then oft from grove to grove, from seat to seat,
With thee conversing in thy lov'd retreat,
I saw the sun go down."

Besides, it might be not unreasonably asked whether the animal creation

*Mr. S. Rogers, in his beautiful poem of Human Life.

is not now, like man, in a fallen state, possessing powers which seem, from some cause or other, to be impaired, yet able to recover, and exhibit, if opportunity is given, something of their original activity and intelligence. Some animals, like the elephant, shew no superiority of powers nor superior instinct in their wild and natural state, but which seem to wait only to be developed by care and education, till that natural instinct is so heightened and improved, that even man scruples not to confess that it may approach so close to reason as scarcely to be distinguished from it. The same may be said of other animals, as some birds, and others in a state of domestication. Now this looks rather like a faculty impaired or lying dormant, than one which we can deny to exist. Place animals in a state of great difficulty, and their powers seem to increase in proportion as they are required. And this view of the subject seems not to be unsupported by the picture of the animal creation which we see in Scripture, where they appear certainly more advanced in the scale of creation than they do now; when they were at once the friends as well as the servants of men; when they were even gifted with the power of language, and conversed with him, as appears, without any expression of astonishment on his part, as if it were no unusual exercise of power; though Milton makes Eve express surprise when the tempter

"Her attention gained with serpent tongue Organic, or impulse of vocal air,"

for he thus describes the effect of the address made to her by the enemy of mankind :

"What may this mean? language of man pro-
nounced
[pressed?

By tongue of brute, and human sense ex-
The first at least of these I thought denied
To beasts, whom God on their creation-day
Created mute to all articulate sound;
The latter I demur, for in their looks
Much reason, and in their actions oft appears.
Thou serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
I know, but not with human voice endowed.
Redouble then this miracle and say,
How camest thou speakable of mute? and how
To me so friendly grown," &c.

This, however, is the embellishment of poetry, and is not to be considered as a necessary deduction from any

their tempers, or dependent (if we may so speak) on their deserts; and that the general justice of God's government must, in a future state, in its wide embrace, comprehend the whole of his creation; and speaking most reverently, most humbly, and most diffidently, as becomes us ;-looking to the treatment which the animal creation receives here from the hand of man, there is much suffering to be compensated, much degradation to be removed, and even much goodness to be rewarded.

We now can only add, that we fear our lucubrations have taken up so much room that we cannot quote, as we could have wished, some pleasing and instructive passages from Mr. Jesse's work, or that exquisite little poem by his daughter, (now Mrs. Houston), which we defy all the Sapphoes and Erinnas of the present day to excel;—it is ὅλης ἐξ πίδακος ὁλίγη λίβας.

The Tree Lifter; or a New Method of Transplanting Forest-trees. By Colonel George Greenwood.

WE have read this treatise with great interest and satisfaction, both as regards the practical observations and advice, and the physiological reasonings and deductions. We must, however, observe that the system recommended by the author for transplanting trees of size with balls of earth can only apply to certain soils, and we presume that his experiments were made in clay; but, as we cannot in our sands retain a particle of earth on the roots, we are obliged to have recourse to the only other system which can be successful, and with great care and labour endeavour to trace out the remotest fibres and small roots, and follow them up till we arrive at the stem of the tree in this way we have never failed. When, however, the nature of the soil will allow, we still should recommend the old plan, of uniting a ball, with as many roots as can be conveniently preserved this was the plan adopted with great success at Dropmore and at the Earl of Harrington's, who has moved (perhaps is now moving) trees of one to three hundred years old, with the most remarkable success. We scarcely remember a single tree, of all his "ancient yews," that has failed; and thus his seat, which but ten years ago

:

:

was comparatively on a naked area of ground, is now embowered in the

immortal umbrage" of venerable cedars and yews, and other evergreens; while two thousand Deodora cedars, and an avenue of Araucarias, will give in a few years such a character to Elvaston as no other place in England possesses. We do not take notice of the author's theory of trees not deriving food or absorbing from the spongioles or extremities of the roots, as we perceive it has been remarked on in the Gardener's Chronicle. As regards the season for transplanting trees, the author's remarks (p. 61) are well worthy attention, and of their justness we have no doubt. We have ourselves removed trees with success in the summer months; and we recollect that the large limes and other trees which were brought by Louis the Fourteenth, to form his garden at Marly, were all removed in the summer, and, for the most part, successfully. On the injury done by the roots of trees to masonry, the author says, in "Greece, Italy, and through the East," roots are the great dilapidators of the ruins of antiquity; he might have recollected that the Romans had a law against planting the fig-tree within a certain distance of buildings, on account of the injury done by it.

At p. 95 the author has given the marvellous measurements of some Pinus Lambertiana on the Columbia, of which the only part we hesitate at believing to be correct is, that, when the trees were only 15 feet diameter near the ground, they were 13 feet diameter at the height of 250 feet; if so, they did not assume the form of cones; and how much higher did they grow? for they could not terminate in that abrupt and truncated manner. The Pinus Douglassii, if taken on Mr. Douglas's statement, as to its girth and height, will produce near 400 loads of timber! while a large English oak will not bring 10!! but these are not the largest trees in the world, as they are exceeded by the Taxodium Distichum of Mexico, which are supposed to be the oldest trees on the face of the earth, and for an account of which we refer to Humboldt. As great pains and most praiseworthy have been taken by different writers to

assist the planter, by recommending the best methods of transplanting large trees, so that men may see around them a well-grown forest of their own creation, we think the present author's hints as regards shelter and sheltered positions to be equal in value. Seldom a space of 5 or 10 years passes without some park in England or Ireland being denuded of its venerable and magnificent canopy of verdure by the effect of sudden and terrific storms; only a few years since, in this manner, Lord Petre's park at Brentwood suffered much injury by the uprooting of trees that had been there for centuries; and in Ireland we believe the ravage done in this way by the elements has been still more destructive. There is another point which we think might be more fully recommended in works of this kind, we mean the good effect of top-dressing in promoting the growth of trees: if it is worth while to be at the expense of removing large trees, it is of equal value to give rapidity to the growth by manuring the surface of the ground; this we have done, and now practise with eminent success. As regards the author's observation (p. 104) on the Araucarias at Dropmore, we shall observe that the largest in England, all of which we have seen, are the following, given in the order they stand reciprocally for size:-1. At Kew; 2. two at Dropmore; 3. Lady Rolles, at Bicton; 4. Pince's nursery, at Exeter, in the specimen garden; 5. then come those at Mr. Baker's, at Bayfordbury; and one at Lord Harrington's, at Elvaston. We cannot close this little work without again expressing our thanks to the author for it; and we hope that it will be the precursor of others on the same important subject.

P. 16. "He who expects that a diminished root will support an undiminished head will be disappointed: this is the fundamental principle of transplanting." True, and so we have found; but it is directly opposed to the principle of Sir Henry Stuart, and to his practice, for he never touches the head of any transplanted tree. The large transplanted evergreen trees at Lord Harrington's, we believe, are never pruned or touched with the knife.

P. 31. The author's objection to

Liebig, that, according to his hypothesis, "if trees are cut down at midsummer till the fall of the leaf, the heads would remain alive and the roots immediately die," does not appear to us satisfactory; for the cutting down the tree and separating it from the root would stop the circulation of sap, which we presume necessary for the vitality of the plant; nor do we see why, on the same reasoning, "the roots should immediately die." On this subject we may remark immediately, that the root of the silver fir, when the tree is cut down, having the power to grow and increase in size annually, is so curious a fact as led Mr. Knight to say, that a tree might do without leaves.""

P. 32. The author observes-" I think it possible that engrafting trees on stocks of minor growth may incline them to fruit instead of growth, on the same principle as ringing branches, or tying ligatures round them, does. In each case the natural supply of sap is diminished." What the author considers possible has been carried into effect on more than one species of trees. Mr. A. Knight grafted the sweet chestnut on itself, for the purpose of procuring fruit; and the consequence was, as we can testify, who had several of these trees, that when a few feet high they were loaded with fruit of remarkable size. We believe the same experiment has been tried on the walnut.

P. 33. "With the exception of the parts of the shoot of the current year, no other part of a tree makes any upward progress." This observation may be true, but it is in direct opposition to the authority of Gilbert White, who relates the fact of his observing the regular annual elevation of a tree (and he watched it, we think, over the line of the roof of a building) independent of its yearly shoot.

P. 75. We also much doubt the theory of injurious excretions for the roots of trees; nor do we believe it necessary to explain the phenomena attributed to it.

P. 83. On the subject of the injury trees receive from the force of winds in open situations, as near the sea, we have no doubt but that the author is right in the causes he states,the violence of the wind destroying the tender annual shoot. On

Our

coast no trees stand the "buffeting of the storm" so well as the sycamore and the white poplar; but, if we had the opportunity given, we should try the Norway maple (Acer Platanoides), which we have heard is found on the rocky shores of Norway.

P. 95. With regard to the magnitude of some foreign trees, we may observe that no American trees attain their natural size in England, probably from deficiency in soil, certainly from the alteration of climate. The Deciduous Cypress is always a small tree with us, so is the Tulip tree; and how much like a shrub is the white cedar! yet a botanist who has travelled all through the two Americas assures us that the white cedars of North America are of gigantic growth, and in fact are the largest trees he had ever seen. Our pale and languid summers do not act with sufficient force and vigour on the elements of growth. With regard to the new gigantic pines from California, &c. they will never attain any large growth here, or, if they do, will be blown down, as all the pine trees are in Guernsey, after they attain a certain height. We have heard from an intelligent traveller that the localities where the great Douglas pines grow in California, are deluged by watery tempests from the Pacific, so that the trees are sometimes as it were in a lake, and the whole soil and climate quite different from the comparative mildness and temperance of our own.

P. 97. "If there is an exception to this rule, it is the Italian pine." What is the Italian pine? Our late esteemed friend Mr. Loudon told us, that the flat-headed pine of Italy was not the stone pine (Pinus Pinea), but the pinaster; if planted singly, both these trees will have lateral branches, and, the stone pine especially, will grow like a large bush. We may remark (in passing) that of all evergreen trees, the stone pine bears best the smoke of towns, and seems hardly affected by it.

P. 102. The author says, "The Deodora cedar attains the largest growth of all trees :" this is far from correct, we never heard of any that girted more than 30 feet, which is not equal to the size of some of the few old cedars now left at Lebanon. As

to its growth "being twice as quick as that of the common cedar," we do not know the point correctly, but our Lebanon cedars, watched for years by us, make their annual shoots from a foot to 15 inches. One great superiority the Himalaya cedar (or Beloo tree) possesses, is in the durable nature of its wood, which is said to be almost imperishable, while the wood of the Lebanon cedar is worth but little. With regard to the Araucaria, we understand that it is a very ugly tree when it attains a large size. The only park where we have found it planted out among the common forest trees, is at Lord Guildford's, at Waldershare, in Kent.

P. 102. As regards protecting single trees in parks from the ravages of cattle, we think the best, the cheapest, the most durable, and the most picturesque, is that used at Lord Talbot's at Ingestrie, where large slabs of stone or rock are thrown around all the thorns and other trees, so that no animal can approach to rub the stem, and they are so irregularly placed together as to have a pleasing effect.

Palm Leaves. By Richard Monckton Milnes, Esq.

THIS volume consists entirely of poetry suggested by a temporary residence in the East, and formed on Oriental subjects and scenery; and, without our remarking any very lofty flights of poetical genius, any powerful descriptions of passion, or striking combination of incidents, yet the general impression from the perusal will be pleasing, and the reader will be instructed as well as amused. There are some very judicious remarks in the author's preface relating to the East, and to the poetical form it is susceptible of receiving.

"I cannot, however, say that I found the East poetical in that application of the word which suits the wants and feelings

of our time. To interest or to benefit subjective; it must accord with the con us, poetry must be reflective, sentimental, scious, analytical spirit of present men. It must be deeper than description, more lasting than passion, more carnest than pleasure; it must help, or pretend to help, the mind of man out of the struggles and entanglements of life. But in the East