THE MANAGEMENT OF ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SCREEN 

 PLANTATIONS. 



There is so much neglect of, and such an objection to, cutting down or giving 

 timely thinning to plantations, (that the true forms of trees, and the beauty 

 of scenery, may be preserved,) that I am induced to lay down the following 

 brief directions, in the hope that they may have the effect of influencing 

 proprietors to turn their attention more fully to so important a subject. 



First, then, I would recommend that choice be made of such trees as are 

 likely to remain where they are planted, and that they should be marked 

 slightly with white paint, in order to prevent their being taken down at 

 the time of thinning. On each successive occasion of that kind, (which 

 should be once in every two or three years for thriving plantations,) a few of 

 the lower branches of these trees should be removed, until a clear stem is 

 formed of from five to eight feet in height. The pendent kinds, such as the 

 Wych elm, beech, hme, &c, should be trimmed to the longest stem ; and 

 formal upright kinds, such as the horse chesnut, sycamore, mountain ash, 

 &c, to the shortest stem; taking care always to shorten such branches as 

 appear to outgrow the rest, for, if left unchecked, they would throw the tree 

 out of its proper balance, and thus deform it. 



Second. Lop off from other trees all branches that intrude, and cut 

 down, as occasion may require, such of the trees as appear to crowd the 

 adopted plants ; by which means the plants will have room to grow, and to 

 form large and massive branches, adapted to be both useful and ornamental. 

 A single tree, even, will thus eventually afford a screen almost equal to a 

 hundred neglected or mismanaged skeletons. I do not mean that ornamental 

 plantations should be so thinned as to leave the trees standing at equal 

 distances, as in forests ; but so that, after being properly thinned, they may 

 still appear to be thrown together in different sized groups ; and although some 

 of them might, for effect's sake, be kept near together, — indeed, so near as 



