104 PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



except perhaps tlie Scotcli fir, which however, in combi- 

 nation, partakes very mnch of their character. In parks 

 with flat or undulating surfaces, the trees planted in 

 forming the woods should be principally of this class. 

 Their broad outlines and massive proportions are more 

 in harmony with the natural contour of the ground than 

 those of a pyramidal shape. Seen from without, they 

 have often, at certain seasons, a peculiarly silky and 

 slightly tufted expression, which is extremely beautiful. 

 Their internal appearance too, — that is, their character 

 as groves, — when they have been sufficiently cleared out 

 to afford large, roomy arcades of shade, is finer on such 

 ground than that of the more upright trees. Of course, 

 when we thus recommend the broad round-headed trees 

 for such situations, we do not mean that they are to be 

 planted to the exclusion of aU others ; a sprinkling of 

 the other kinds wiU have a beneficial effect in the way 

 of contrasting with the predominating forms, and of 

 adding variety to the scenery. 



Co7iical or Pyramidal Trees. — With the exception of 

 the larch and the deciduous cypress, these are nearly all 

 evergreen trees. This, in one respect, is an advantage : 

 it enables them to give a permanently clothed and 

 verdant aspect to scenery. On the other hand, when 

 planted in large masses on flat surfaces, and especially 

 when they have been ill thinned out, they have a very 

 sombre and monotonous effect, exhibiting a large array 

 of bare trunks below, and above a dark, gloomy canopy 

 of boughs and branches, excluding perhaps every ray of 

 sunshine. The small wiry forms and almost universal 

 rigidity of their foliage have also a saddening influence, 

 as they seldom wave except when agitated by a gale, 

 and there is a total absence of that agreeable movement 



