THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 321 



THE AMATEUR'S ARBORETUM. 



BY ALEXANDEE M'kENZIE, 

 Landscape Gardener, Alexandra Palace, Sluswell Hill. 



(With Coloured Uludralion of Acer poli/morpTium palmatifidium.) 



|ARDT trees, characterized by elegance of outline or 

 nobility of aspect, or remarkable for the beauty of 

 their foliage, are every day becoming more and more 

 popular, and we may now reasonably hope that within 

 a comparatively brief period they will be appreciated 

 according to their deserts. Having for some years past advocated, 

 whenever a favourable opportunity occurred, the claims these trees 

 have upon the planter, and demonstrated in works entrusted to me 

 their capabilities for producing picturesque effects, it affords me a 

 more than ordinary degree of pleasure to take note of the increasing 

 taste for them. The lists oF hardy trees are exceedingly rich in 

 trees of a highly ornamental character ; yet until quite recently they 

 have been all but ignored, and the most prominent positions in the 

 pleasure grounds have been planted with trees that are alone fitted 

 for grouping and massing in parks, and in the formation of distinctive 

 features in woodland scenery. The elm and the horse-chestnut are 

 of the h'ghest value for the park and plantation, but they are alto- 

 gether unfitted for pleasure grounds. In these we require trees 

 possessing a greater degree of elegance and refinement, and also with 

 distinctly coloured foliage to enable the planter to produce striking 

 yet tasteful contrasts of colour, and also to afford as great a variety 

 as possible, for without variety the pleasure grounds lose what is to 

 my mind one of their principal charms. No one wishes to see the 

 same trees, the same shrubs, or the same flowers at every point. Tet 

 in the disposition of trees, planters often proceed as if it were of the 

 utmost importance to have precisely the same kinds throughout 

 pleasure grounds, and consequently distribute examples of each with 

 a certain degree of regularity from one end to the other. There is 

 much to be learnt in the disposition of "garden," or, as they are 

 sometimes called, " pictorial " trees ; for it is a very easy matter 

 to put a golden or silvery-leaved tree where one with foliage of 

 a more sombre hue would be appropriate, or a weeping tree 

 where one of an upright habit would produce the best effect. 



An Arboretum in which the most beautiful and distinctive 

 trees could be gathered together, and so arranged as to show their 

 characteristics to the best advantage, would form a most interesting 

 feature of the grounds attached to a country or surburban residence 

 and to the amateur who takes a genuine interest in trees, it would 

 afford a very large amount of pleasure. The extent of the "Amateur's 

 Arboretum " must of necessity be regulated by the spuce at disposal 

 and the amount it is intended to expend in its formation. An acre 

 of ground would afford room for a goodly collection ; but two acres 



November. " '■ 



