Arboriculture as a Hobby. 285 



amount of park land attached, and many have little woods or 

 waste pieces of land which are too small to be turned into a 

 plantation as understood by sylviculturists. These little woods 

 or coppices are generally filled with specimens of our more 

 common trees, such as the oak, ash, elm, Scots pine, spruce, 

 etc. These trees are often badly grown, and are not objects of 

 beauty as seen through the eyes of a forester, who likes to see 

 long, straight and clean boles, or from an artist's point of view. 

 (They are grown too far apart for the former's wish, and not 

 far enough to allow side branches to grow naturally and thus 

 make an object of beauty as seen by the artist. 



You will all have noticed how well formed the hedgerow 

 trees generally are (or, I will say, would have been had it not 

 been for the use of the saw). There the trees have plenty of 

 room to develop their side branches, too often, I'm sorry to say, 

 to the detriment of any farm crop growing beneath their shade 

 and drip. Hence the use of the saw. Many gentlemen (and 

 ladies also) who take an interest in the growth of trees and shrubs 

 are often handicapped by the want of a suitable place in which 

 to study the subject from nature. They can see all sorts and 

 conditions of trees, say at Kew Gardens, the Botanical Gardens 

 of the big cities, or some of the private collections, but they 

 cannot always be at Kew or the other places. Instead of that 

 they could utiHse the Httle woods and park land to which I have 

 referred to make miniature Kew Gardens at their own door. 

 The workmen even will have a pot plant and one or two shrubs 

 in his garden. Those in a Httle higher station in life will have 

 several shrubs on their lawns, so why should not the landed 

 proprietor, who has an acre or two to spare, go one better and 

 have a small arboretum? 



If the area to be reserved as such is small, it would be 

 impossible to grow many specimens of the tallest or largest 

 crowned trees, but there are plenty of smaller trees and shrubs 

 that could be planted. Deciduous and evergreen trees could be 

 mixed with flowering shrubs, to the same end as we mix our 

 garden flowers, viz., to make as good a show of colour as 

 possible all the year round. 



On a larger area it would be possible to plant any sized 

 tree. The spruces and silver firs could be introduced. The 

 foliage of some of the latter is magnificent. Take for instance 



