agriculture has made towards perfection in many points, there is one particular and very interesting branch of this science which improvement has not yet embraced, viz. the growth of timber, and the culture and management of plantations, both of fruit and forest trees.

The profession of a gardener has been the employment of my life; and during a long succession of years, it has been an object of my particular study to investigate and discover the latent causes of those various defects and diseases to which all kinds of trees are more or less subject, and the injuries resulting from them, by obstructing the fertility of fruit trees, and diminishing the quantity, as well as quality, of timber in forest-trees.

Having acquired a competent knowledge of the evil in all its appearances and effects, my attention was directed toward the discovery of such a remedy as might not only counteract the progress of these diseases in fruit and forest-trees, but also afford nature such powerful assistance, that she might be enabled to renovate, as it were, fertility in the one, and sound timber in the other. Of my success in these endeavours to promote the general advantage of this country, in a matter so connected with its best interests, I have that clear conviction which, I trust, will be hereafter communicated to every part of the kingdom where the application of my experience shall be made and prosecuted.

The inquisitive spirit which accompanied my professional pursuits, with the natural desire of improving my private practice in the management of the various kinds of trees under my care, led me by degrees to this discovery. The idea, however, of making it public never occurred to me, till the many trials, and experiments that I had repeatedly made, both on fruit and forest-trees, in the Royal gardens at Kensington, had attracted the notice of many persons of high rank, as well as philosophical eminence, and prompted them to favour it with a particular examination. Their investigation of my process and method of curing the defects and injuries which, from various causes, those trees had sustained, by producing conviction in their minds, gave the most flattering encouragement to me. Indeed, the application of the remedy had been attended with such uninterrupted success, that its salutary and certain effects were evident to every one who favoured it with an attentive observation. Many who visited me, with the most decided opinions against the successful application of any remedy for trees in a very advanced state of decay, did not hesitate, on an investigation of the subject, to acknowledge that their prejudices were not only removed, but that their judgments were perfectly convinced of the powerful efficacy of the discovery, and the very great advantages which, both in an individual and a national view, might be derived from it.

Among the more early enquirers, were the Commissioners appointed by Parliament to examine into the state of the woods, forests, and land revenues of the crown; who, in the course of their surveys, had perceived a great number of trees in the Royal forests to be materially injured; and their anxiety to prevent the loss, or farther damage, of so much valuable timber, induced them to honour me with a letter * concerning the effects of injuries done to oak-trees, and the means of preventing or curing defects in timber from various causes therein stated.

In reply to this inquiry of the Commissioners, I did myself the honour of addressing them two successive letters. †

Shortly after the date of these letters, the Commissioners favoured me with a visit at Kensington, to examine the process and mode of cure which I had adopted, as well as the effects which my remedy had produced on trees of various kinds and ages to which it had been applied. Those gentlemen seemed, in a most particular manner, to interest themselves in ascertaining the utility and benefit that might arise from the application of it to many thousand valuable trees in His Majesty's woods and forests, which had received injuries of such a kind as, if left to the unassisted efforts of nature, would occasion a very considerable diminution in the

*See No. I. of the Appendix.

† See Nos. II. and III. of the Appendix.

value, and the quality of the timber, and might even terminate in their entire ruin.

This very attentive and minute examination of the several objects of their enquiry being followed by the clearest conviction of the great public utility: which would result from a general application of the remedy, the Commissioners were pleased to: make a representation of it to the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury, under whose sanction it was submitted to the consideration of the House of Commons by Mr. Rose, on the 24th July, 1789: and on his motion, an humble address was presented by that honourable House to His Majesty, on the subject.t

In consequence of this Address, a Committee: of Members of both Houses of Parliament undertook, at the instance, of the Lords of the

* Mr. Nichols, of Redbridge, Hants, Purveyor for Portsmouth Dock, informed me, that the average of the damaged timber brought to that place was never less than one-fourth of the total quantity of timber brought in annually; and not unfrequently it amounted to a third. If, however, the trees that have received injuries were prepared, and the Composition applied as directed in this Treatise, the cavities, or wounds, would be filled up with new and sound wood. And if recent wounds, occasioned by lopping, or breaking off branches, were immediately dressed in a proper manner with the Composition, the tree would sustain no injury; as the wounds would be healed and covered over with new and sound bark in a short space of time; so that there would not be found a foot of damaged timber.

See No. IV. of the Appendix.

Treasury, to investigate the efficacy of my Composition; for which purpose they most attentively examined the state, condition, and progress of cure of the decayed and injured trees in Kensington gardens, to which it had been applied in experiments of various kinds, for upwards of seven preceding years; and, after having, by a very full enquiry, strict investigation, and the most minute attention, satisfied their minds in every particular, they reported to the Lords of the Treasury the result of their examination, expressing their unanimous opinion and conviction, that "The Composition was a discovery which might be rendered highly beneficial both to individuals and the Public." That Report, and also a Letter previously written to the Committee by the Commissioners of the Land Revenue, of which I have been favoured with copies, are, for the farther information of the Public, inserted in the Appendix.*

Having been thus honoured by the unanimous approbation of persons so respectable for their rank, character, and knowledge, I proceeded to exert myself in making various additional trials and experiments, to enable me to give farther proofs of the efficacy of my Composition, in' restoring the powers of vegetation to trees so far decayed as to be of no value as timber, but which from their situation as a skreen, or as composing, *See No. V. of the Appendix.