ARBORICULTURE. 



indicate either the taste or competence of the 

 occupiers within. The lowliest hut, environed 

 by two or three aged oaks or hawthorns, is an 

 interesting spectacle, and far more delightful to 

 the eye than the proudest palace standing bare 

 and unaccompanied by trees. 



In ornamental planting, there is much room for 

 the display of good taste. It is now allowed by 

 all who have studied landscape-gardening, that in 

 the part surrounding the mansion, trees should not 

 be dotted about at equal distances, nor in lines, 

 neither should they be placed as blinds to the 

 principal windows, but so arranged as to form 

 irregular glades, diverging in as many directions 

 from the house as is consistent with effect and 

 propriety. These glades should always be laid 

 out with reference to some distant interesting 

 object, or some striking feature of the surrounding 

 country. The offices, which are generally in the 

 rear, or at one end of the house, should be hidden 

 by a screen of trees and shrubs ; and all eyesores, 

 visible from the windows or elsewhere, should also 

 be screened by plantation. 



When it is intended to increase both the beauty 

 and the value of an estate by planting, either for 

 the personal interest of the proprietor, or with a 

 view to that of posterity, ordinary prudence will 

 direct him to fix on those parts which are the 

 least valuable for agricultural purposes. The pre- 

 cipitous slopes of an undulating surface, where 

 cultivation is difficult or impracticable, moist 

 swampy hollows, or the ridges of bleak hills lying 

 to the northward or eastward, will all be found 

 eligible for conversion into woodland. And while 

 such plantations yield the finest shelter and cover 

 for game, they rapidly add to the real value of the 

 estate. 



The character of the general surface surround- 

 ing a mansion fixes the style of planting and the 

 kinds of trees. If the surface be moderately 

 undulating, having easy swelling knolls and gently 

 falling hollows, without asperities of any kind, 

 such a surface is said to be beautiful, and conse- 

 quently the plantations should be beautiful also ; 

 that is, composed of trees of the finest foliage and 

 most elegant forms. But if, on the contrary, the 

 surrounding country be wild in character, and 

 marked with bold and rugged features, as naked 

 rocks or cliffs, and deep ravines or glens, then 

 a different style of decoration must be pursued 

 as planting in irregular masses all the most 

 grotesque, rugged, and sombre-tinted trees that 

 can be selected, in order to harmonise with the 

 natural features of the country. Scenery of this 

 kind is said to be picturesque ; and where such 

 tracts of country are chosen for a manorial resi- 

 dence, and the grounds are laid out and planted 

 by a skilful gardener, the scenery is much more 

 interesting to the eye of taste than any other, 

 especially if water chance to be in the composition. 



Great changes occurred in the style of planting 

 during the eighteenth century. Up to the begin- 

 ning of the reign of George I. all transplanted 

 trees were, arranged in right lines, as single, 

 double, or quadruple avenues or vistas, or as 

 boundaries to the inclosed grounds belonging to 

 royal or other palaces, colleges, and public build- 

 ings. But about this time it was discovered that 

 trees in rows were rarely seen in the works of the 

 great masters in the schools of painting : a new 

 idea was entertained that such a disposition of 



trees was inadmissible, as being too stiff, formal, 

 and not agreeable to nature ; a sentence of con- 

 demnation was accordingly passed upon private 

 avenues, and they quickly disappeared before the 

 axe of the woodman. A few only were saved, 

 and now comparatively few avenues are planted. 

 Along with the avenues, the old regularly laid out 

 terraces and flower-gardens were swept away to 

 make room for a new style, distinguished by the 

 prevalence of irregularity and curved outlines. 



Soon after this revolution in landscape-garden- 

 ing, a great many ridiculous pranks were played 

 in obtaining extreme irregularity and tortuous 

 lines ; and some of the performers got severely 

 handled by the satirists of the day. Kent, who 

 began the revolution, died without having gained 

 much reputation ; but his successor, the famous 

 'Capability' Brown, became highly eminent, and 

 was universally employed. He did more in alter- 

 ing the gardens and grounds of the country-seats 

 of these kingdoms than any landscape-gardener 

 before or since his time. His aim was to produce 

 unmixed beauty by neatness and general smooth- 

 ness, especially near the house ; for which purpose 

 he cleared away every obstruction, whether built 

 or planted, in order to set the mansion fairly out 

 upon a naked grass-plot or lawn. Even the 

 kitchen-gardens were removed as far off as pos- 

 sible ; and every bush, or other appearance of 

 inequality, was shaven off, to produce the wished- 

 for smoothness. In this proceeding he and his 

 copyists fell into the opposite extreme ; instead 

 of beauty, baldness was the result ; instead of 

 intricacy, tameness j and instead of the embosom- 

 ing shelter of surrounding groves, complete naked- 

 ness, and exposure to every wind that blows. 

 Nevertheless, Brown had the honour of laying 

 out many beautiful parks and gardens, which 

 remain to this day as monuments of his good taste 

 and judgment ; but many of his immediate fol- 

 lowers brought discredit upon his style by their 

 very awkward and unmeaning imitations. 



The severe animadversions published against 

 the Brownian style tended to correct some of its 

 author's most ostensible errors ; and the works of 

 Repton, Loudon, and others, have improved the 

 style of English landscape-gardening, and brought 

 it much nearer to the principles of real taste. The 

 clump and the belt have been greatly modified ; 

 the first is now expanded into a less formal group, 

 and while the latter has lost its continuity, it has 

 been increased in depth, and its lengthened form 

 as a boundary judiciously broken. Undergrowths, 

 which were swept away by Brown, are again intro- 

 duced ; and the banks of lakes and rivers, formerly 

 smoothed down to the water-level, are now left 

 more abrupt, broken, and irregularly fringed with 

 overhanging trees and aquatic shrubs and herbs. 



Forest-planting. 



We may begin by premising a few important 

 points of general application. Young plants, about 

 ten inches high, are usually procured from a nur- 

 sery where they have been grown from seeds. At 

 the time of removal they are perhaps three years 

 old. It is important, for the sake of having good 

 roots, that the plants while in the nursery should 

 have been shifted twice, or at least once, previous 

 to final removal. It is likewise important that the 

 climate of the nursery should somewhat resemble 



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