AIR AND SHADE. 



country seats in England being marred by unmeaning trees and trees 

 out of place. I have known people who wanted to remove a solid 

 Georgian house rather than take down a tree of moderate dimensions 

 which made the house dark and mouldy and obscured the view of far 

 finer trees beyond it, and it is not long since a man wrote to the Times 

 after a storm to say that one of his Elm trees had fallen through the 

 dining-room ceiling when he was at luncheon, and that Elms were not 

 good trees to put over the house ! 



Where without the limits of the garden there are drives through 

 old mixed or evergreen woods, like the Long Cover at Shrubland 

 or the drive at Eastnor, it is important not to let the undergrowth 

 close in on each side, as trees are very apt to do. It is difficult to give 

 an idea of the difference in the effect of such a drive when " light and 

 shade " are let into it, and when, as is commonly the case, the Yew, 

 Box, and other things are clipped back to hard walls, good views, 

 fine trees, and groups being all shut out by this neglect. It is better 

 never to clip in such cases, but always to work back to a good tree 

 or group, cutting encroachers clean out of the way, and so getting 

 room for the air to move, the shade of the trees above being sufficient 

 in each case. The pleasure of driving or walking is much greater 

 when the air is moving, and when one can see here and there into 

 the wood on each side, with perhaps groups of wild flowers and 

 beautiful views into the country beyond. 



The old fashion of having plashed alleys near the garden, of 

 which there are good examples at Hatfield, Drayton, and other old 

 gardens, was a pretty one, but as done with vigorous Lime trees it was 

 troublesome and laborious work to keep down the vigour of such 

 forest trees which, in point of looks, were not in any way the best to 

 use for the purpose. However charming those old covered walks 

 are it is well to remember that we have much nobler things for 

 forming them now, that do not want cutting back, and that are 

 beautiful in foliage and bloom. It is also well in planting such 

 things to see that the shaded alley is sufficiently high and airy. 

 There is no reason why it should not be made reasonably big, especi- 

 ally as we have noble climbers to cover it that do not keep rushing 

 up in the air like the Lime and other forest trees which were used for 

 this purpose in old times, when there were few trees to select from, 

 and when probably the quick growth of the Lime was the cause of 

 its selection. Its shade in this cut-down form is not so pleasant as 

 the nobler climbers, which will cause no trouble in springing above 

 the surfaces we wish them to cover. 



Planting in Light and Shade. — This helps to get us out of 

 the hard ways in which flowers are set in gardens. There is 

 too sharp a line between the open parterre and the shady grove. 



