246 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



of assuming that the only way out of the difficulty is in the stupid 

 disfigurement of trees ? 



First of all is the loss of tree form a wonderful and beautiful 

 gift, so beautiful, indeed, that the marvel is that we should have 



to allude to it at all, as in nearly every parish in 

 Loss of form. England one has only to walk one hundred yards 



or so to come face to face with fine examples of 

 good tree form. There is more strength and beauty of line in many 

 an Ash tree by a farmhouse yard than in all the clipped trees in 

 Britain. Some protest against the cropping and docking of animals' 

 ears and tails, but, when the worst is done in that way, the dog or 

 the horse remains in full beauty of form in all essential parts, but if 

 we clip a noble tree, which in natural conditions is a lesson in lovely 

 form in all its parts, we reduce it at once to a shapeless absurdity. 



The second great loss is that of light and shade, which are very 

 important elements of beauty. These are entirely neutralised by 



shaving trees to a level surface, whether the trees 

 Light and shade, take the form of a line, or we clip them singly, 



as in the British phase of tree clipping. If we see 

 old examples of the natural Yew, a forest tree, and the commonest 

 victim of the shears among evergreen forest trees, and if we look at 

 them in almost any light, we may soon see how much we lose by 

 destroying light and shade, as the play of these enhances the force and 

 beauty of all the rest. 



The third objection is the loss of refined colour. In gardens 

 we are so much concerned with garish colour that we often fail to 



consider the more delicate colours of nature, and 

 Colour. such fine tone as we see in a grove of old Yews, 



bronzed by the winter, or in Ilex with the beautiful 

 silver of the leaf, or a grove of coral-bearing Hollies. All the 

 favourite trees used for clipping are far more beautiful in colour in a 

 natural state ; the loss of the stem colour alone is a great one, as 

 we may see wherever old Yews show their stems. 



In the movement of these trees stirred by the wind, and the gentle 

 sighing of their branches, we have some most welcome aspects of 



tree life. In groves of Ilex, as at Ham House, 

 Motion. and masses of the same tree, as at St Ann's, the 



effect of the motion of the branches is to many 

 a beautiful one. This movement is also of great beauty in groves of 

 old Yew trees, and is seen in every Cedar and Pine that pillars the 

 hills. The voice of the wind in these trees is one of the most 

 grateful sounds in nature, and has often inspired the poet. 



" I see the branches downward bent, 

 Like keys of some great instrument." 



