plantations 207 



establishment of a type of tree grouping, as well as 

 shrubs and flowers, and make units of effect which may 

 be used with variations over and over again, as far as 

 their combinations of high and low size and contradic- 

 tions or contrasts of colour and form will permit. One 

 mass will now for a moment conflict with another and 

 then flow over and blend with it. There will be sharp 

 contrasts and then gradually the smoothest blendings. 

 It is difficult to convey the idea of just how this can be 

 done. It takes long practice and the study of nature 

 in many moods. The observant eye well recognizes 

 in fields and forest glades wonderful exhibitions of how 

 such work can be accomplished. It will be discovered 

 how the black alder grows among its native compan- 

 ions; who are these companions, how they behave 

 when associated together, what soil and what exposure 

 they like. An intimate knowledge of each should be 

 acquired. 



The types of growth should be allowed to assert 

 themselves freel}^ Instead of a group of high and low 

 growths, a single tree, or three specimens, may stand 

 out almost alone with a few attendant shrubs trailing 

 along in the neighbourhood. Perhaps farther on there 

 may be a different kind of tree standing on the very 

 edge of a solid group with a few scattering shrubs around 

 it. Then again there will be one noble specimen of 

 tree form standing entirely alone as if it were sufficient 

 unto itself and brooked no companion, or there might 

 be several in a grove. Such trees are, whether out in 

 the middle of the lawn, or in a grassy glade near a path, 



