TREES OF VARIOUS FORMS. 91 



and may be held as embracing three subordinate figures 

 — the rounded cone of the Scotch fir, and some others 

 of its class, and generally of the holly ; the truncated 

 cone of the silver fir : and the spiry elongated cone of 

 the various spruces, larches, Swiss Cembran pine, and 

 perhaps the deciduous cypress. ^lany of the pines 

 lately introduced, such as P. excelsa, Lambertiana, 

 Sabiniana, macrocarpa, are certainly pyramidal, and 

 will fall under one or other of these subdivisions when 

 aged. Indeed, the whole class of conifers assume their 

 final form only when far advanced in growth. 



The Holly is almost the only broad-leaved tree of 

 this group. It is generally of a low, bushy form, 

 roimded, but sometimes also with a spiiy cone. Grow- 

 ing in woods, and on a light soil, we have seen it sixty 

 feet in height, and with a trunk eight feet in circum- 

 ference. It may be planted in the dressed grounds, 

 and also in the woods of the park as underwood among 

 deciduous trees. "VMien scattered along the outskirts 

 of a recess or glade, it has a fine effect in thickening the 

 mass and deepening the shade. 



The Scotch Fir has been planted to a much greater 

 extent than any other fir in Great Britain and Ireland. 

 No tree has been more decried and condemned as being 

 ugly : and certainly in many cases this dispraise has 

 been deserved; a close, ill-thinned, and worse-pruned 

 plantation of this tree, on a flat imdrained sm^face, pre- 

 sents both externally and internally a heavy, mean, 

 uninviting appearance. But part of the blame should 

 fall on the want of judgment often evinced in the first 

 planting, and on the neglect with which it is as often fol- 

 lowed. In suitable situations, and with proper treat- 

 ment, it attains a beauty not inferior to that of any ^ 



