ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 133 



method by which a harmonious combination of the 

 aifferent forms composing them may be made so as not 

 to violate correct principles of taste. An indiscriminate 

 mixture of their different forms would, it is evident, 

 produce anything but an agreeable effect. For example, 

 let a person plant together in a group, three trees of 

 totally opposite forms and expressions, viz. a weeping 

 willow, an oak, and a poplar ; and the expression of the 

 whole would be destroyed by the confusion resulting 

 from their discordant forms. On the other hand, the 

 mixture of trees that exactly correspond in their forms, if 

 these forms, as in oblong or drooping trees, are similar, 

 will infallibly create sameness. In order then to produce 

 beautiful variety which shall neither on the one side run 

 into confusion, nor on the other verge into monotony, it 

 is requisite to give some little attention to the harmony 

 of form and color in the composition of trees in artificial 

 plantations. 



The only rules which we can suggest to govern the 

 planter are these : First, if a certain leading expression is 

 desired in a group of trees, together with as great a variety 

 as possible, such species must be chosen as harmonize with 

 each other in certain leading points. And, secondly, in 

 occasionally intermingling trees of opposite characters, 

 discordance may be prevented, and harmonious expression 

 promoted, by interposing other trees of an intermediate 

 character. 



In the first case, suppose it is desired to form a group 

 of trees, in which gracefulness must be the leading 

 expression. The willow alone would have the effect ; but 

 in groups, willows alone produce sameness : in order, 

 therefore, to give variety, we must choose other tree* 



