196 SCIENCE OF THE STUDY OF TREES. PART II. 
other ramose-headed trees, the length of naked trunk bears a much less pro- 
portion to the head. Shrubs are distinguished from trees, not only pictorially, 
but also botanically, by having no distinct trunk, or naked stem, but, whether 
large or small, forming one entire bush. 
The trunks of trees may farther be considered with reference to the manner 
in which they rise out of the soil, and to the manner in which the head of the 
tree is supported by them. Trees which grow in thick woods, where the 
annual crop of leaves falls down, and rots into mould, have their trunks 
apparently without bases ; but trees which stand in open situations, where the 
falling leaves are blown away, always rise out of the ground with a conspicuous 
base, formed by the junction of the trunk with the roots. No circumstance 
adds more to the effect of a tree, as a stately and durable object in a landscape, 
than the appearance of its trunk, rising from a secure and widely spreading 
base ; and this appearance is one which may be imitated by art, both in drawing 
landscapes, and in landscape-gardening, and whether the trees to be introduced 
are young or old. 
The perpendicularity or inclination of the trunks of trees are circumstances 
well deserving the study of the artist. Wherever trees have grown up for- 
tuitously in groups or masses, the trunks of many of them will be found more 
or less inclined to the horizon ; and their heads will often appear ill balanced 
when taken singly, though in combinations such trees make the most varied 
groups. Trees which have been planted singly, and exposed alike on every 
side, grow up with erect trunks, and form the most stately and well-balanced 
heads. Such trees always have the appearance of having been planted by art ; 
while the others seem to convey the idea of their having been subjected to the 
operation of natural causes. Trees of the first kind may be called gardenesque 
trees, and of the latter, picturesque trees. Trees which grow out of rocks, or 
on precipices, or on the banks of water, almost always have their trunks in- 
clined to the horizon; as trees on level surfaces, other circumstances being 
the same, have their trunks at right angles to the horizon. 
Though shrubs are without trunks, yet the same general remarks will apply 
to them. A detached shrub, on a level surface, is clothed to the ground on 
every side; a shrub which has grown up among other shrubs or trees, or which 
stands on a slope or hangs over water, will be inclined to one side. Shrubs, 
however, admit of much less variety in point of attitude than trees. 
The branches of trees differ in many particulars. The frondose branches of 
the pine and the fir tribe never, except under accidental circumstances, attain 
any great size; on the other hand, the ramose branches of the oak, the chest- 
nut, &c., frequently attain a size which rivals that of the trunk. The branches 
of some kinds of trees proceed regularly from the stem, in some definite and 
obvious order of succession; others proceed from the stem apparently in an 
irregular manner. Some extend a great length horizontally, or at right angles 
to the stem; and others a great length acutely, or obliquely to it. The heads 
of some trees, as the cedar of Lebanon, in a detached situation, seem to com- 
sist entirely of spreading branches ; of others, such as the pinaster, of a few 
branches at the upper extremity of the trunk. The ramifications of the 
branches are as various as their mode of insertion in the trunk : some are quite 
regular, as in the fir tribe; and others are exeedingly various and intricate, as 
in the oak. The branches of some trees have few branchlets, as in most of the 
poplars ; others have many branchlets, as in the oak, the beech, the birch, &c. 
The same observations will apply to shrubs, but not in the same degree. In 
the case of shrubs, numerous stems arise from the root ; and these stems, in 
many cases, produce only branchlets and spray, and, in others, only leaves. In 
some shrubs, as in the common laurel, the branches trail on the ground; in 
others, as in the berberry and the lilac, they are numerous and erect. Certain 
shrubs have stems which twine round, or are otherwise supported by, trees or 
other objects ; such as the ivy, the clematis, &c.; and others rise up, and fall 
down, as in the case of the common bramble. Some shrubs are, in their details, 
like a collection of miniature trees ; as, for example, the butcher’s broom. In 
