Read it through once

"I strolled out along the banks of Tay in that noble woodland which is continuous from Dunkeld to Murthly. Here there are many fine hollies, some on the river banks and cliffs, others on level ground, planted by no hand of man. There was not one of these which did not confirm my observations first made many years ago, and hardly one which did not bear evidence of special growth--not merely as a reaction against pruning or cropping, but _as a precaution_ _against any such contingency_--so regular and deliberate as to suggest that these trees are something more than unconscious automata.