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THE POETRY OF TREES. 



the evening before was altogether objectless; but 

 no one need rub his eyes, or believe himself to be 

 in the Londe of Faery, at such a sight now; i'or, 

 by the Transplanting Machine, the tree, long be- 

 fore prepared to leave its native soil, is lifted up 

 with almost all its roots, and with all its branches, 

 and let down into the depth of ils new bed, with 

 so little violence done to it in bark, sap, branch, 

 twig, leaf, or fibre of leaf, that it seems, even in 

 its first spring, hardly to have felt the change; 

 and taking kindly to the mould, into which its 

 runts are not slow to strike, the bees discover no 

 difference in the taste of its honey-dew, and the 

 wondering birds, of whom it may be said " miran- 

 turque novos fronidts" begin to carol, and pair, 

 and build, and breed, among its novel umbrage. 

 There is something extremely pleasing, and, were 

 it of a fictitious scene, it might be said, extremely 

 poetical, in the following description, by Sir Henry 

 of the park at Allanton: 



" At the place from which these pages are 

 dated, may be seen a park of limited extent, and 

 possessing no particular claim to beauty, but 

 visited from curiosity by many persons, within the 

 last ten years. It consists of about a hundred and 

 twenty English acres, abundantly clothed with 

 trees and underwood of every common species, by 

 means of the transplanting machine; and exhibit- 

 ing within itself a practical illustration of every 

 principle laid down, and every theory held forth 

 in this Essay. The single trees and bushes, in 

 groups and open dispositions, amount to about 

 seven hundred in number, exclusively of close 

 plantations and copsewood. Their size, when re- 

 moved, is not great, the largest not exceeding 

 from thirty to forty feet in height, and from three, 

 or three and a half, to five feet in girth, at a foot 

 from the ground ; but many of them are of much 

 smaller dimensions. The height of the bushes or 

 underwood removed has been from four to ten 

 feet, and consisting of every sort usually found on 

 the banks of lakes and rivers. But size in an art 

 founded on fixed principles, is a mere matter of 

 choice and expenditure ; for trees of the greatest 

 size must be almost as certain and successful in 

 removal, as those of the least. It was desirable, 

 however, as almost everything was to be done 

 here, in the way of parkwood, to limit the opera- 

 tions to the smallest possible expenditure, con- 

 sistently with producing some effect on the fore- 

 ground, and middle distance of the landscape; 

 and with careful execution. 



" Whoever will take the trouble to visit the 

 place, will perhaps find his labor repaid, in exa- 

 mining the progress of an art, calculated probably 

 to become as popular as any that has been culti- 

 vated within a century; as there is scarcely any 



one, in which so many persons in the higher and 

 middle ranks are interested. 



Considering the prejudices which exist against 

 the art, and that the grcnt power, of which it is 

 susceptible, will with difficulty gain belief, it may 

 be worth while to state a few facts as to its gene- 

 ral application) which are as incontrovertible as 

 they may seem surprising to the reader. It is 

 from no vain desire to exaggerate what has been 

 done at this place, but merely to show the degree 

 of progress, which the art has made, under the 

 greatest disadvantages of soil and climate. It is 

 also for the purpose of proving to these who may 

 engage in similar undertakings, that, whatever 

 has been done well here, may, with equal industry, 

 be done a great deal better in most other situa- 

 tions. 



" There was in this park originally no water, 

 and scarcely a tree or a bush, on the banks and 

 promontories of the present lake and river; for 

 the water partakes of both those characters. 

 During the summer of 1820, the water was exe- 

 cuted ; and in that and the following year, the 

 grounds immediately adjoining were abundantly 

 covered with wood, by means of the transplanting 

 machine. Groups and single trees, grove and un- 

 derwood, were introduced in every style of dispo- 

 sition which the subject seemed to admit. Where 

 the turf recedes from, or approaches the water, 

 the ground is somewhat bold and irregular, al- 

 though without, striking features of any sort ; yet 

 the profusion of wood, scattered over a surface of 

 moderate limits, in every form and variety, gave 

 it an intricacy and an expression which it never 

 possessed before. 



'* By the autumn of the third year only after the 

 execution, namely, 1823, when the committee of 

 the society honored the place with their inspection, 

 the different parts seemed to harmonize with one 

 another, and the intended effects were nearly pro- 

 duced. What it was wished to bring forward ap- 

 peared already prominent. What was to be con- 

 cealed or thrown into the background, began to 

 assume that station. The foreground trees, (the 

 best that could be procured,) placed on the east- 

 ern bank above the water, broke it into parts with 

 their spreading branches, and formed combina- 

 tions which were extremely pleasing. The copse 

 or underwood, which covers an island in the lake 

 and two promontories, as also an adjoining bank 

 that terminates the distance, was seen coming 

 down nearly to the water's edge. What was the 

 most important of all, both trees and underwood 

 had obtained a full and deep-coloured leaf, and 

 health and vigor were restored to them. In a 

 word, the whole appeared like a spot at least 

 forty years planted." 



