Wood (irul Plantations 83 



in adding to the interest which the same awakens in the 

 mind of the spectator. 



Care must be taken, however, that the very spirited 

 effect which is here aimed at, is not itself defeated by the 

 over-anxiety of the planter, who, in scattering too profusely 

 these very strongly marked trees, makes them at last so 

 plentiful, as to give the whole a mingled and confused look, 

 in which neither the graceful and sweeping outlines of the 

 round-headed nor the picturesque summits of the spiry- 

 topped trees predominate; as the former decidedly should, 

 in all scenes where an expression of peculiarly irregular kind 

 is not aimed at. 



The larch, to which we shall hereafter recur at some 

 length, may be considered one of the most picturesque trees 

 of this division; and being more rapid in its growth than 

 most evergreens, it may be used as a substitute for, or in 

 conjunction with them, where effect is speedily desired. 



Oblong-headed trees show heads of foliage more length- 

 ened out, more formal, and generally more tapering, than 

 round-headed ones. They differ from spiry-topped trees 

 in having upright branches instead of horizontal ones, and 

 in forming a conical or pyramidal mass of foliage, instead of 

 a spiry, tufted one. They are mostly deciduous; and ap- 

 proaching more nearly to round-headed trees than spiry- 

 topped ones do, they may perhaps be more frequently in- 

 troduced. The Lombardy poplar may be considered the 

 representative of this division, as the oak is of the first, and 

 the larch and fir of the second. Abroad, the oriental cypress, 

 an evergreen, is used to produce similar effects in scenery. 



The great use of the Lombardy poplar, and other similar 

 trees in composition, is to relieve or break into groups, 

 large masses of wood. This it does very effectually, when 

 its tall summit rises at intervals from among round-headed 

 trees, forming pyramidal centres to groups where there was 

 only a swelling and flowing outline. Formal rows, or 

 groups of oblong-headed trees, however, are tiresome and 

 monotonous to the last degree; a straight line of them be- 

 ing scarcely better in appearance than a tall, stiff, gigantic 



