158 TKEES IN ASSEMBLAGES. 



of his art ; and the botanist discovers, in their glens and 

 hollows, hundreds of species that would perish in an open 

 grove. Some woods are distinguished by a superfluity, 

 others, like fir and beech woods, by a deficiency of under- 

 growth, and this differs in botanical characters as well as 

 in quantity, according to the predominant species in the 

 wood. In all woods, however, shrubbery is more abun- 

 dant on the borders than in the interior. This, border- 

 growth contributes 'more than anything else to harmonize 

 wood and field. It is the outside finish and native embel- 

 lishment of every spontaneous assemblage of trees. 



A wood in a valley between two open hills does not 

 darken the prospect as if it covered the hills, though, if 

 it be continuous, it hides the form of the ground. But 

 when it has come up in scattered groups on a wide plain, 

 without the interference of art, it surpasses every other 

 description of wood-scenery. An assemblage of trees on a 

 hillside is called a " hanging wood," because it seems to 

 overhang the valley beneath it. Thus situated it forms 

 oppositions of a very striking sort, by lifting its summits 

 into the sunshine while it deepens the shadows that 

 rest upon the valley. Wood on steep declivities is an 

 interesting sight, especially if an occasional opening re- 

 veals to us the precipitous character of the ground, and 

 shows the difficulties which the trees have overcome in 

 their struggle for life. Some of our pleasure comes from 

 the evident utility of such a wood. We see at once 

 that a rocky steep could not be occupied by any other 

 vegetation, except under the protection of the trees, and 

 that trees alone could resist the force of occasional tor- 

 rents; that without them the ground would be barren, 

 ugly, and profitless, and difficult and dangerous to those 

 who should attempt to climb it. 



