USE OF GRASS, TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 



187 



Next to the open area in gardens, the group easily 

 holds a first place, as an effective means of employing 

 embellishing plant material, and lias been called the key- 

 note of modern natural gardening. Whether as found in 

 nature, or as it may be formed, the chief merits of the 

 group consists in its boldness; the power gained for aug- 

 menting individual beauty of kinds, by clustering to- 



F'lg. 30. — NATURAL GROUPING OP DECIDUOUS AND EVERGREEN TREES 



AND SHRUBS. 



gether of numbers of subjects alike or nearly so, and the 

 picturesqueness which may be created by contrasting 

 groups of one class, with similar groups or marked in- 

 dividuals of other classes, in what may be called com- 

 pound groups. To analyze the beauty of natural masses, 

 it may be seen that this comes largely from the peculiar 

 way in which different kinds are combined. It may be 

 obsen^ed that in such groups individual kinds generally 

 gravitate towards one or more centers, with usually a 



