Half the charm of this work lies in his contriving to make us feel interested about his trees; he gossips about them, he tells us where they came from and what they are used for, and has a few marvels--not of his own--but told with such perfect good faith that we can hardly help believing them with him.
This was the secret by which he managed to attract the attention of even the wits and gallants of 'the gay court;' and thus it was that he gave an impulse to planting those 'goodly woods and forests,' the absence of which, in his own time, he so feelingly laments, and which now crown our hills and enrich our valleys.

Mr.Loudon has followed Evelyn's track.
Tradition--history--poetry--anecdote enliven his pages; the reader soon feels as if his instructor were a good natured and entertaining friend.

He has also not contented himself with merely recalling old favourites to our memory, but has introduced to us numerous agreeable foreigners whose acquaintance we ought to rejoice to make, since by their aid we may hope, in the course of another half century, to see our woods and plantations presenting the richness and variety of the American autumns, the trees which produce those 'lovely tints of scarlet and of gold,' of which travellers tell us, are all to be obtained at moderate cost in every nursery; and that they will thrive perfectly in this country Fonthill and White Knights bear ample testimony.' Hardly anything can well be added to the above testimony regarding Evelyn's influence on Arboriculture throughout the British Isles.
Economic conditions have changed entirely since his time, but the spirit living and breathing in _Sylva_ is still that which is found influencing many of our great landowners.

And it is an influence which cannot be indicated in any mere enumeration of the number of trees planted or of acres enclosed as woodlands either for purposes of profit or of ornament.
Far more is, of course, now known with regard to the physiology and the natural requirements of our forest trees--e.g.

with reference to soil and situation, demand for light and capacity of enduring shade, etc.,--than was known in Evelyn's time.