244 ON PRUNING AND THINNING TREES. 



they might have been, had they been planted at a proper dis- 

 tance at first, and judiciously thinned afterwards. 



A similar feeling prevailed with another baronet a year or two 

 ago, who) although he professed to know a good deal about 

 Landscape Gardening, had not acquired sufficient of the art to 

 enable him to preserve either the form, or grandeur in the 

 growth of his trees; for many old ones about the house were 

 crowded to excess, and drawn to an immense height nearly des- 

 titute of branches ; and there they remain to this day, as if to re- 

 proach him for his obstinacy. 



I am employed at present in laying out a park and pleasure 

 grounds, and the only obstacle that has occurred to frus- 

 trate the whole of my designs, is that of cutting down trees, 

 The opposition rose on the part of the lady of the house, who, 

 I must confess, possesses considerable taste, though in this par- 

 ticular case she was decidedly wrong. I was two years in ob- 

 taining her consent to remove two trees standing in a large mass, 

 in order to open out a narrow vista. At last, on a late visit, I 

 so far prevailed, by the aid of another gentleman, who happen- 

 ed to be dining with us, as to be allowed to remove one first in 

 order to see the effect ; and although this shewed a good deal of 

 my object, I was not allowed to take down the other. However, 

 we hit upon another expedient, we contrived to cut the top off 

 the other, so as not to disfigure the tree, and this entirely answer- 

 ed the end I had in view, and opened one of the prettiest vistas 

 I ever beheld : in short we were all highly delighted with it. I 

 have adduced these instances which have come under my obser- 

 vation, to shew the necessity of drawing the attention of gen- 

 tlemen towards the management of their trees, as far as regards 

 effect and ornament, and to encourage them to dash away their 

 fears, and not to allow them to predominate to the injury of the 

 landscape. 



These are not fanciful speculations, they are the result of much 

 practice and careful observation. Before I conclude, allow me 

 to remark that the general practice of introducing nurse plants, 

 as they are termed, into plantations, seldom proves to answer 

 the purpose intended, resulting in a great measure from the 

 want of early attention. The Italian Poplar and the Larch, for 

 instance, are of such rapid growth, that in four or five years they 

 will overpower, and materially injure the Oak, the Beech, and 

 in short, nearly every other kind of tree; consequently, at that 



