EFFECTS IN LANDSCAPE OF VARIOUS COMMON TREES. 



555 



young cultivators,! can also give the result 

 of my experience as a nurseryman. Autumn 

 pears, such as I have named, are all gathered 

 and sold before the tree business begins. 



I have 150 fine trees of Marie Louise, 

 just twenty years old. They are, as usical, 

 full of blossom ; but it is five years since I 

 had a crop, which is also the case in the 

 pear gardens near London. I am, dear 

 sir, yours truly, Tho's Rivers. 



Sawbridgeworth, Herts, England, April 26, 1349. 



[We commend the foregoing most valua- 

 ble article to the careful perusal of all our 

 pomological readers. Mr. Rivers is not 

 only the most extensive grower of fruit 

 trees in England, but he is also one of the 

 most accomplished English pomologists ; 

 and, as our readers will see, has had not a 

 little experience in giowing fruit for mar- 

 ket. Ed.] 



THE EFFECTS IN LANDSCAPE OF VARIOUS COMMON TREES. 



BY W. LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS. 



I WISH to enter a special plea in favor of 

 that much abused tree, the Lombard]) Pop- 

 lar. It is the most formal of deciduous 

 trees, and, therefore, the most effective 

 when properly used, and the worst when 

 abused. When the planting of poplars 

 was the rage many years since, it is no 

 wonder that when the long lines of mono- 

 tonous trees sprang up all over the coun- 

 try, people got tired of them, and cut them 

 all down. But here and there a single 

 fine tree or two was spared. In this part 

 of the country there are half a dozen of 

 these trees in conspicuous situations, that 

 are landmarks in the landscape, towering 

 with their green spires above the rounded 

 forms of the other trees, and fixing the eye 

 at the distance of miles, by an irresistible 

 charm. A single poplar, if a thrifty and 

 vigorous tree, is never out of place. It 

 supplies, as no other tree can, the want of 

 perpendicular forms in the level or rounded 

 lines of our landscapes. The same quality 

 that makes to the eye the hidden charm of 

 castle and crag, viz., perpendicularity , is 

 possessed by this tower of foliage. When 

 backed or supported by other trees, and 

 especially if water in front be added, as on 



the shore of a river, three poplar trees, of 

 different heights, produce a magically pic- 

 turesque effect ; the sketcher cannot go bv 

 them without opening his portfolio. 



Among our native trees, many that are 

 formal when young, acquire with age and 

 exposure a peculiarly picturesque appear- 

 ance. The White Pine, when growing in 

 exposed situations, becomes very stocky, 

 and frequently branched and spreading. 

 Its effect is so beautiful in this form, that 

 I have often thought of cutting off the 

 leading shoots of some fine young trees, 

 to cause them to branch. Thrifty pine 

 trees, in open ground, that lose their lead- 

 ing shoots at ten or fifteen feet from the 

 ground, frequently make the most beauti- 

 ful spreading trees. 



The greatest beauty of the Hemlock is 

 in its youth, and in masses or clumps ; the 

 Pine, on the contrary, requiring much 

 room, or it will grow slender and throAv 

 out no side branches. The Hemlock seems 

 to grow the more thrifty the more it is 

 crowded. Twenty young trees will unite 

 into one impenetrable mass of verdure. 

 As they grow large the smaller die out, 

 and the large trees form the densest shade 



