ARBORICULTCJRAL GOSSIP. 



29 



of Lebanon, Araucarias, and the like, will 

 as surely follow as the blossom follows the 

 bud. 



With all our trul}'^ fine sylvan scenery, 

 there are none of your readers, who have 

 not seen the thing for themselves, that 

 know how properly to rate the enjoyment 

 of those collections of fine ornamental trees 

 which the English make at their country 

 places, under the name of Arboretums. 

 It is for a country residence, what a muse- 

 um, or rich collection in natural history or 

 art, is for a town house ; a source of inte- 

 rest perpetual and unvarying. Many a 

 person (and there are, I am sorry to say, 

 such in all countries,) to whom trees are 

 only trees — that is, green things in the 

 landscape, in which they perceive little dis- 

 tinction — are immediately struck and inte- 

 rested in a country place by an arboretum — 

 that is, a collection of trees properly ar- 

 ranged on a large lawn, each genus, with 

 all its varieties, near each other, so as to 

 show oft^ their contrasts and individualities 

 to the highest advantage. Such a park or 

 lawn soon seizes upon the mind and attracts 

 it ; almost insensibly one is led to compare 

 forms and developments ; and very quickly 

 he who knew little and cared less about 

 trees, finds himself acquiring the acquain- 

 tance of the most distinguished botanical 

 families ! 



I know very well that my impatient 

 countrymen, ever berating time for the 

 slowness (!) with which his wheel revolves, 

 plant Paulownias, Ailanthus and Silver 

 poplars, that grow ten feet in a year (and 

 are pigmies, after all,) more willingly than 

 Cedars of Lebanon, that grow only a foot 

 in a season, and become giants at last. 

 But the number of patient ones will only 

 increase with the gross number of planters. 

 In the mean time, those who begin first will 



be the first to lay the foundation for great 

 results. 



We know little of the matter of arbori- 

 cultural taste in the United States. In 

 England it is carried to a perfect passion. 

 Not only entire collections are made in cer- 

 tain places, but, in many places, particular 

 genera of trees are chosen, and every 

 known species of interest being assembled, 

 one sees the whole beauty of that class of 

 vegetable forms, more thoroughly than in 

 any other spot in the world. And again, 

 every planter will not have space for a 

 world's park-collection, but may be able to 

 exhibit a single family of trees, or one ge- 

 nus at least, in all their beauty and per- 

 fection. Thus we see in England Thorne- 

 ries — collections of all the known kinds of 

 Hawthorns ; Pinetums-asserahlages of every 

 procurable member of the pi7ie family, etc. 



Perhaps the most celebrated Pinetiim in 

 the world, as you know, is that at Drop- 

 more, a few miles from Windsor Castle, 

 the seat of the late Lord Grenville, by 

 whom it was commenced — the design hav- 

 ing been pursued to this day by his enthu- 

 siastic widow, Lady Grenville. It was 

 one of the places which, with my own pen- 

 chant for trees, I most desired to see, and 

 therefore one that I did not fail to visit, 

 when I was in that country, in 1845. 



It would be quite impossible for me to 

 give your readers, in my present brief 

 space, any correct idea of the very extraor- 

 dinary wealth of Lady Grenville's place 

 in trees. There are, in the first place, 

 grand and gigantic beeches and oaks, seve- 

 ral hundred years old, huge, gnarled, and 

 picturesque to the highest degree. Then 

 there is a great double avenue of immense 

 Cedars of Lebanon, such as almost lift a 

 genuine tree-lover ofl!' his feet, with their 

 majesty and beauty. 



