nt manner. _Sylva_ soon ran into
several editions. The fourth edition appeared in the year of his death
(1706) and a fifth in 1729. From 1776 to 1812 other four editions were
published, with notes by Dr. A. Hunter of York, the last of which served
as the text for the celebrated forestry article in the _Quarterly
Review_ for March, 1813. A later issue of Hunter's editions appeared in
1825; but in 1827 ignorant and wanton hands were with much bombastic
language and buffoonry laid on this great classic, when James Mitchell,
an agriculturist, published _Dendrologia; or a Treatise of Forest Trees,
with Evelyn's Silva, revised, corrected, and abridged by a Professional
Planter and Collector of practical Notes forty years_. Since then no
other edition of _Sylva_ has appeared until the present reprint of the
4th edition, making the 12th edition of this classic work.

The publication of _Sylva_ gave an enormous stimulus to planting in
Britain, the benefits from which were subsequently reaped at the end of
the XVIII and the beginning of the XIX century, when during our war with
France the supply of oak timber for shipbuilding almost entirely ran
out. Dr. Hunter's editions did much to revive the ardour for planting,
which was further stimulated by the _Quarterly Review_ article and by
the advice which Sir Walter Scott put into the mouth of the Laird o'
Dumbiedykes to his son: 'Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may
be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're
sleeping.' To the impetus then given to planting, many of the woods now
growing in different parts of Britain, and especially in Scotland, owe
their origin.

As Evelyn had given the copyright to Allestry, the Royal Society's
printer, _Sylva_ brought no pecuniary profit to its author; and
indirectly it was the cause of disappointment to him. How this came
about may be seen from the following extract from a letter, dated 4th
August 1690, to his friend the Countess of Sunderland, which is further
of interest as giving Evelyn's own account of the origin of
_Sylva_--'when many yeares ago I came from rambling abroad, observ'd a
little time there, and a greate deale more since I came home than gave
me much satisfaction, and (as events have prov'd) scarce worth one's
pursuite, I cast about how I should employ the time which hangs on most
young men's hands, to the best advantage; and when books and severer
studies grew tedious, and other impertinence would b