Wood and Plantations (Y.'> 



find embodied the choicest and most captivating studies 

 from picturesque nature; and will see at a glance the effect 

 of certain combinations of trees, which he might otherwise 

 puzzle himself a dozen years to know how to produce. 



After all, as the Picturesque improver here will most gen- 

 erally be found to be one who chooses a comparatively 

 wild and wooded place, we may safely say that, if he has 

 the true feeling for his work, he will always find it vastly 

 easier than those who strive after the Beautiful; as the 

 majority of the latter may be said to begin nearly anew - 

 choosing places not for wildness and intricacy of wood, but 

 for openness and the smiling, sunny undulating plain, where 

 they must of course to a good extent plant anew. 



After becoming well acquainted with grouping, we 

 should bring ourselves to regard those principles which 

 govern our improvements as a whole. We therefore must 

 call the attention of the improver to the two following 

 principles, which are to be constantly in view: the produc- 

 tion of a whole, and the proper connection of the parts. 



Any person who will take the trouble to reflect for a 

 moment on the great diversity of surface, change of posi- 

 tion, aspects, views, etc., in different country residences, 

 will at once perceive how difficult, or, indeed, how impossible 

 it is, to lay down any fixed or exact rules for arranging plan- 

 tations in the modern style. What would be precisely 

 adapted to a hilly rolling park, would often be found entirely 

 unfit for adoption in a smooth, level surface, and the con- 

 trary. Indeed, the chief beauty of the modern style is the 

 variety produced by following a few leading principles and 

 applying them to different and varied localities; unlike the 

 geometric style, which proceeded to level, and arrange, and 

 erect its avenues and squares, alike in every situation, with 

 all the precision and certainty of mathematical demonstra- 

 tion. 



In all grounds to be laid out, however, which are of a 

 lawn or park-like extent, and call for the exercise of judg- 

 ment and taste, the mansion or dwelling-house, being itself 

 the chief or leading object in the scene, should form, as it 



