we then to suppose, that the earlier inhabitants of this country, like the Aborigines of America, or the inhabitants of many of the islands scattered in the Pacific Ocean, had their receptacles, or morais, above ground, in which they deposited the remains of the dead; and where they occasionally visited them with grateful and melancholy respect, till putrefaction rendered the different bodies undistinguishable from each other, and dissolved the parts?Then, at intervals of public appointment, or of individual suggestion, they, with affecting care, collected and deposited the remains, in the manner and places where they may at present be found. This hypothesis is countenanced by fact. In various places of America, tumuli or laws are to be found, containing bones collected from the places where the dead had expired, or their bodies been deposited above ground. These are well known to be much revered and frequented by the native Indians.* The urns, which were found only in the burying places of the great, might have contained some much esteemed portion of a fellow-creature to whom they were closely related, or something deemed peculiarly valuable or dear to them while alive. As it was not uncommon to sacrifice or offer to the dead, what was considered as most acceptable to them, and, on these occasions, to meet for melancholy recollection or important deliberation, fire would be kindled from necessity, or for the comfort of their surviving relations, acquaintances, or inferiors. to relume his domestic fire. These fires being kept alive, or renewed, till the purposes for which they were lighted were accomplished, might give origin to the stratum of ashes observable in the laws. The extinction or emigration of a family would naturally occasion the relinquishment of their burial place; or, without either of these events happening, the tumulus or law might be considered as sufficiently full, and a quantity of earth and stones thrown upon the stratum of ashes as a seal to the cemetery. When occasion required, a similar situation would be selected, and an eminence formed, of like appearance and materials, for the same purpose. (To be concluded in our next.) On the Advantages to be derived from THAT Timber is of the utmost importance to mankind, both has been fully exemplified in the in the savage and civilized state, history of every quarter of the globe. The foliage of thick forests afforded shelter to the ignorant and naked inhabitants of these islands at a remote period; and at this moment, in some parts of the world, the natives have no other shelter. Experience and necessity, in due time, taught our forefathers to construct huts of trees, both to defend them from the attacks of destroyOn ing animals, and to afford shelter these occasions, all culinary or comfrom the inclemency of the seasons, mon fires were extinguished, inti- The same powerful agents gradualmating thereby, that strifes and ly instructed their children to apply feuds were laid aside; and after the their trees to more elevated and meeting was dissolved, each carried noble purposes; till, at the present a live coal from the law, with which day, they have become, in the form of a triumphant Navy, the means of exalting these islands to a height Jefferson's Notes on the State of Vir ginia, p. 156. of of glory unrivalled in the history of the world. Daily experience teaches us, that timber is a most necessary, useful, and valuable article in common life. Indeed, without it, we would be nearly as destitute as we should be without food or raiment. Timber, therefore, is equally necessary to our private comforts, and to our existence in a national point of view; besides, wood is to the coun. try as clothing to the body. By the proper management of wood, the seats of the great are embellish ed in an eminent degree;-towns and villages are beautified, and our fields are sheltered. The advantages to be derived from subdividing extensive tracts of barren country by plantations, are evidently great, whether considered in the light of affording immediate shelter to the lands, or in that of improving the local climate. The fact, that the climate may be thus improved, has, in very many instances, been sufficiently established. It is, indeed, astonishing how much better cattle thrive, in fields even but moderately sheltered, than they do in an open exposed country. In the breeding of cattle, a sheltered farm, or a sheltered corner in a farm, is a thing much prized; and, in instances where fields are taken by the season, for the purpose of fattening them, those most sheltered never fail to bring the highest rents, provided the soil be equal with that of the neighbouring fields which are not sheltered by trees. If we inquire into the cause, we shall find, that it does not altogether depend on an early rise of grass, on account of the shelter afforded to the lands by the plantations; but, likewise, that cattle which have it in their power, in cold seasons, to indulge in the kindly shelter afforded them by the trees, feed better; because their bodies are not pierced by the keen winds of spring and autumn; neither is the tender grass destroyed by the frosty blasts of March and April. But, indeed, shelter is not more useful in cold seasons, than the shade of trees is gratifying to cattle in hot ones. In an exposed, open field, under a burning sun, the torture which cattle often endure is truly distressing. It may be argued, that the desirable effects of shelter and shade may both be obtained, by simply planting single rows of trees in the division lines, or around the sides of fields. This is granted, in many cases, where the land is good; but in situations more exposed, even with tolerably good soil, the rearing of single trees is a matter of great difficulty. But it may justly be said, that, even in the best of lands, by planting a stripe of belt of a moderate breadth, and keeping the fields of a good size, there would not, ultimately, be any ground lost to the purposes of husbandry. When the trees were past being injured by the browsing of the cattle, the fences might be thrown open; and, the plants being properly thinned out, the pasturage under them would be found early, and the shelter and shade most valuable. Even the corn farmer, in many instances, might be very much bettered by planting. Whether his farm be situated on the plain, or on the side of a hill, if destitute of wood, it is pronounced, by common consent, a bare, cold looking place. Certainly a spirit for planting has other objects in view than that of increasing the quantity of arable ground.-All that we propose is to advise the making of useful plantations: And he is surely a short sighted proprictor, who would grudge the planting of such a part as shall evidently benefit benefit the rest by a moderate and convenient shelter, even suppos ing the lands to be, what rarely can happen, solely appropriated to tillage; for, surely, under good management, in many cases the arable farmer must occasionally become a feeder, and then he must necessarily be sensible of the good effects of planting, in common with the breeder and grazier, as in the cases adverted to above. was offered to be purchased, at the rate of L. 14 per acre per annum since the time of planting !-and, perhaps, this same land would not, at an average, have rented at 30s. per acre per annum! Other instances might be adduced, where the profits of planting have been remarkably conspicuous. These profits, however, must vary, in every county and district of the kingdom, according to the quality of the soil, local circumstances, and the like. Every proprietor who has ever cut an acre of timber, or of underwood, and who has rightly considered the value, for a given time, of an adjoining acre of the same quality, which has been employed in agriculture, and has experienced an ordinary management, must, in some measure, be satis fied of the relative value of a crop of trees. It is very generally known, that such estates as have a quantity of well arranged, healthy timber upon them, when brought to sale, bring an extra price, according to the quality and value of the wood, not only at the time of sale, but, counting forward on its value, to a distant period. Thus, supposing the half-grown timber on an estate to be valued at ten thousand pounds at the time of the sale, instances are to be found where thirty thousand pounds have been given, over and above the valuation of the List of Scottish Trees of remarkable lands. The purchasers of such estates wisely foresee the increase of value which will arise from healthy timber growing, where it may not only be cherished till of full maturity, but where, probably, it can then be turned to the best advantage, by reason of its local situation. But, besides the real value of growing timber, there is most generally an ideal value attached to it, namely, that of its ornamental appearance. The actual profits arising from planted timber, we have known, in several instances, to be very great; and, probably, in none would it sink, in eighty or an hun dred years, below what could have been procured from the land in name of rent, provided the trees be well managed. One instance lately came under our observation, where a plantation of an acre and a half of sycamores, of 60 years standing, The Oak. magnitude. (From the same.) Noak free, at F. IN. Wallace's oak, so named for ages, must have been a large tree 500 years ago. It was situated in a wet clay soil, in the Tor-wood, near Falkirk, and in 177 was supposed to be in girth, at four feet above the ground 22 0 No trace of this venerable tree now remains. The largest oak which we have noticed in Scotland is in the old oak wood on the north side of Loch Arkeg, in Lochaber. When measured, it was found to be in girth, at four feet above the ground In a moss in the parish of Auchterderran in Fifeshire, the remains of an oak which has its root several feet above the bottom of the moss, measures in diameter at the root The Larch.-This is but a newly introduced tree; none of them are above 60 years old; the oldest are to be found at Dunkeld. The finest of these is 100 feet high, and in circumference at the ground In Monzie garden there are four larch trees, said to be the largest in the island. They are not yet 60 years old; yet the largest one is 80 feet high, and its girth at the ground is Other two are about the same height, but the cir cumference of the one at the 24 6 60 10 0 16 0 An ash in the island of Loch Leven, in Fifeshire, in September 1706, measured, in circumference, at four feet from the ground - - 120 An ash at Yair, in Selkirkshire, measures, at the surface, in circumference - 12 9 An ash near the church of Logierait, in Perthshire, measured, at four feet from the ground, in 1770 16 0 An ash tree at Wemyss Castle, in Fifeshire, growing about 100 yards from the gate, measured, on the 13th March 1812, 35 feet bole; and in circumference, at four feet from the ground 15 9 An ash in the church-yard of Bonhill, in Dumbartonshire, in September 1784, measured in circumference at the surface The Glammis Ashtree at Castle Huntly in Perthshire, measured in circumferenee at the ground 33 0 27 9 And at a yard high - 17 0 At the river Blackburn, in the parish of Castletown in Roxburghshire, the trunk of an old ash measures in circumference. - 18 0 An ash at Midstrath, in the parish of Bins, at the ground 20 0 St John's An ash near Deskford, in the county of Banff, called St John's Tree, measures in girth F. IN. Another, at the same 24 5 place, is 30 feet of bole, and, at the same height from the ground, in girth A few yards from Cessford Castle, in Roxburghshire, there is a venerable ash tree, which measures at the base 27 8 An ash tree near Bonhill House, in Dunbartonshire, which is surrounded with a sloping bank of earth, about three feet in height, measured, in circumference, in September 1784, at four feet above the general surface of the ground 34 1 An ash tree in the churchyard of Kilmalie, in Lochaber, burnt down during the troubles in 1746, was long considered as the largest and most remarkable tree in Scotland. Its remains were measured in October 1764, and, at the ground, the circumference was no less than 58 0 The Elm.-On the estate of Castle-Huntly there are several fine Scots elms, which measures, at three feet from the ground, about 11 0 At Lord Morton's, Aberdour, Fife, there is a Scots elm, which measured, March 10, 1812, forty feet length of bole, and in girth Two elms at Yair, in Selkirkshire, measure, each, at the surface of the ground An elm tree in the parish of Roxburgh, in Tiviotdale, called the Trysting Tree, was measured in 1796, and its girth, at four feet from the surface of the ground, found to be 11 6 13 0 30 0 - 11 0 F. IN. 13 8 Another, at breast high, at the same place and time, measured in circumference 15 0 Another, at same height, with a trunk 45 feet, was in girth 10 2 Another, at same height, with a trunk 60 feet Near the Abbey of Balmerino, on the banks of the river Tay, a beech tree, measured in 1793, was found to be in girth 10 0 12 7 A beech at Inverary, whose stem was 12 feet in length, and the diameter of its head 90 feet, had a trunk whose circumference was - 14 0 A beech, near the castle of Kelly, in the county of Fife, was measured in 1793; its stem was 30 feet in height, and the circumfer |