14 SYLVAN WINTER. 



put them just as Nature would have them, and 

 as he the planter admits when, sometimes after 

 a few days, sometimes after a few weeks, and 

 sometimes it may he after months and years, he 

 looks at them arranged as Nature wills. Whether 

 the place planted be a little rockery of small 

 herbaceous plants, a garden bed, a whole garden, 

 or a park or wood, the eye at once detects the 

 hand of the planter. Branches and leaves appear 

 to be all awry. But Nature quickly steps in and 

 with exquisite grace and symmetry arranges the 

 whole. ' She leaves no part unclosed.' Here 

 is the secret. The expression * Nature abhors 

 a vacuum' has often been used. Her office is 

 to leave nothing unutilized ; and in the woods 

 she is constantly seeking, as elsewhere, to fill 

 every space ; yet in such a way as to cause no 

 confusion and little jostling. The season of 

 growth is, of course, the period when these 

 symmetrical and beautiful arrangements are made. 

 The vigorous shoot that is to form the limb, the 

 ramifications of those that are to form the 

 branches and twigs, all co-operate to make up the 

 perfect whole. 



