composition of pitch, dung, and other ingredients ought to be applied to assist nature in curing the wound. As the object and design of pruning is, to send up through the trunk of the tree that portion of the sap, or nourishing substance; which would otherwise go to the support of useless branches, and thus to form a longer and larger body of sound and solid timber, the mode of cutting close to the trunk appears from the circumstances themselves, best calculated to produce the intended effect; care being taken to avoid injuring the body of the tree, and to apply some composition to the wound, to prevent gangrene from the attacks of insects or other causes. The practice of pruning is altogether condemned by some considerable authorities, especially with reference to the oak. But the general opinion is in its favour, and experience has confirmed the notion of its beneficial effects, when prudently and properly conducted. It seems clear, however, that it would be better not to prune at all than to overprune. If the idea of physiologists be well founded, that the leaves perform an important function in the nourishment of the tree, although excessive pruning may improve the appearance, it must necessarily injure the quality of the timber. It has been suggested by some, well ac

quainted with the management of woods, and the principles on which it depends, that one third at least of the whole length of the tree ought to remain unpruned. The pruning in the woods of Inverary, as far as one could judge from the specimens at the sides of a road passing through them for some miles, seemed verging towards excess. In the woods of the Ballach, the error in this particular appeared to be in the other extreme, and it is possible that the design in the cuttings observed on this occasion at the Ballach, was to prevent the branches from overspreading the road, rather than the common purpose of pruning. In the Inverary woods, the cutting is done with neatness and precision; but neither there, nor at the woods of Taymouth, was there any appearance of the application of any composition to ensure and accelerate the perfect cure of the wound; so that this practice, although certainly beneficial, does not seem to be considered essential or so decidedly useful, as to render it universal.

From this point, the ground rises from the brink of the lake, for the most part with a very steep ascent, to a considerable height, and then forms a broad inclined plane, or gently sloping terrace, over which the road is carried, gradually rising towards the highest ridge, which was

all enveloped in thick moving clouds of grey mist. The summit of the vast mountain of Lawers, situate on the north side of the lake, four or five miles west from Kenmore, and elevated 3787 feet above the level of the sea, was invisible. The sun's rays burst at times through the thick clouds, illuminating the lake with long streaks of light, finely contrasted with the deep darkness of the surrounding waters. The opposite bank rose equally steep, but with a slope ascending more rapidly to the upper ridge, also covered with mist, under which the ground appeared black, heathy, and barren; while, on the northern side, the hill face, up to the edge of the mist, was clothed in green pasture, save where masses of naked rock were thrown out from the sides of the mountains. Almost the whole of the immediate banks of the lake, in many places so steep that it seemed amazing how the plough and harrows could be brought to operate, and the lower half of the broad sloping terrace, a breadth of about two miles, are in a state of arable cultivation. On the southern side, the plough has not ascended so far; but there also the steep banks adjoining the lake are laboured for grain crops. At this time, 22d of September, the grain crop, consisting entirely of barley or bigg, and oats, partly cut down, and partly

standing, was well ripened, heavy, and abundant, for this high situation, which might be naturally supposed to be much better adapted for pasture and the raising of cattle and sheep, than for arable farming. The whole appearance of the district instantly suggests the idea of a system contrived for the purpose of combining, as far as possible, good husbandry, with the retention of the population. The town plan, or union of a number of contiguous dwelling hovels, in the form of a village, is completely exploded; not a single instance having been observed in an extent of fifteen or sixteen miles. This is the more remarkable, since even at this day there is perhaps no district of equal extent in the highlands, where the alteration in the mode of occupation is so complete, except in those places where aration is entirely banished, and the population extirpated. The whole country is divided into a great number of separate little farms, each having its own habitation, and office houses, distinct from all the rest. From the multitude of these farms, the population must be very considerable, probably to the full as crowded as when the town system prevailed, while the ground is immeasurably better cultivated. The season had proved uncommonly favourable to the highlands, and the fields exhi

bited a gay and rich aspect; the fine green of the turnip and clover crops intermingled with the yellow, long, thick straw, bending under the weight of the ears; horses and cattle grazing in the upland pastures; the several families busily employed in reaping; the men dressed in blue trowsers, and generally bonnets, a few of them having hats. Some of the men, however, and almost all the boys, wore the tartan kilt; but the old dress is gradually giving way to the blue trowsers as one approaches the western sea-coast, where it is almost entirely superseded except in the article of the bonnet, which is still common even there, although the hat also is frequently seen. The dress of the highland females is now generally similar to that, which prevails among the same class in the south of Scotland.

In all, or in almost all parts of the highlands, except in those where the old population has been rooted out, and its place supplied by one or two families from the lowlands, the ancient Gaelic still remains the language of ordinary conversation; although the lowland Scotch, or the English acquired at school, is almost universally spoken, with the Gaelic accent, and a peculiar pronunciation, for the purpose of communicating with the people of the south. This