been the only hunting ground. To this was now added in striking contrast the resources of the North American forests.
In the eighteenth century the practice of planting foreign trees became in some degree a fashion amongst wealthy landowners, though still mainly for ornament. This was due in large measure to the example of Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, who formed a large collection at Whitton. After his death in 1 762 all that were removable were transferred to Kew, where an Arboretum had been commenced by the Princess Dowager of Wales.
An intelligent taste for arboriculture was at any rate for a time firmly established. Those who care to trace its further history more in detail will find abundant information in Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, a work which, though published more than half a century ago, must always remain indispensable to any student of the subject. Parks and pleasure grounds throughout the country were stocked with specimens of new and interesting trees. And though often neglected and even forgotten, we now possess a wealth of examples which have attained adult development. Loudon catalogued with indefatigable industry every tree or shrub known to be tolerant of the climate of the British Isles. It might have been thought that this laborious undertaking would have excited a new interest in planting. But it began to languish with the beginning of the last century, and Loudon's labours from their very completeness, perhaps, deterred many from engaging in an occupation where more than moderate success would seem costly and laborious, and anything beyond almost unattainable. In 1845 a National Arboretum was projected at Kew, and commenced the following year on a plan prepared by W.A. Nesfield.
The latter half of the last century saw a remarkable development of open-air horticulture. In so far as this included woody plants, it was limited to shrubs. Broad-leaved trees were little cared for. The rarer kinds were little in request, and those that were planted were too often drawn from the ill-named stock of some convenient nursery. The neglect was increased when conifers became a fashion. This led, no doubt, to many fine Pinetums being planted, the interest and importance of which will increase with age. But it led also to much unconsidered and scattered planting of trees which, attractive enough in a juvenile state, are often less sightly as they grow older, and can never blend with their broad-leaved neighbours into stately umbrageous masses.
If the planting of broad-leaved trees as distinguished from conifers has for the moment fallen into neglect, we still inherit the results of the labours of our predecessors. The British Isles for the last two centuries have, in fact, been the seat of an experiment in arboriculture without parallel elsewhere. And the very neglect into which tree-planting has fallen, paradoxical as it may seem, adds to the interest and value of the experiment. For the trees that have come down to us from the
