322 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



XV. Landscape and Economic Planting. By Charles S. 

 France, Bridge of Dee, Aberdeen. 



Every one who travels and exercises those common attributes 

 with which man is endowed — namely, the natural emotions 

 of likes and dislikes in the objects which are always surrounding 

 them, must be affected either pleasingly or otherwise by the pro- 

 fusion and variety with which nature has adorned the landscape ; 

 it may be by the rolling undulations of a comparatively flat 

 country, by the sterile waste of the bleak muir or bare sandy 

 down, or by the wild mountain range and precipitous crag. In 

 these natural scenes the picture is invariably modified so as to 

 relieve it of monotony and sameness by the sylvan beauties of 

 our valleys, the disti'ibution of larger tracts of woodland and 

 forest on the more elevated reaches, or, it may be, by small 

 isolated clumps, here and there, either announcing where more 

 trees have existed, or indicating where trees ought to grow. 

 These, and many other features, are all calculated to evoke 

 feelings of interest and admiration in proportion as they strike 

 the eye from given points, and produce pleasing emotions, or 

 otherwise by association, in the mind of the observer. 



Nature has thus provided many I'ich treats to the eye of the 

 intelligent and thinking mind. These beautiful gradations of 

 " wood and fell," of " light and shade," are calculated not only to 

 touch the heart with the most gentle feelings, but are also intended 

 to elevate and inspire the mind with high and holy emotions 

 of reverence and awe, and 



" To trace in Nature's most minute desi^^n, 

 The signature and stamp of Tower Divine." 



We must, then, admit that nothing approaches perfection in 

 general beauty more than Nature if viewed aright. Still, even 

 Nature has been subject to change, arising from many causes. 

 Nothing on earth has escaped accident to its normal condition, 

 nor has that which we call Nature had immunity from acci- 

 dents and their influences. What we would call accidents to 

 Nature have been brought about by many causes. It may have 

 been the ruthless hand of the invader, the foi'ce of worldly 

 circumstances, the uneducated work of man, or the convulsions 

 of Nature herself. These and many other influences may have 



