364 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



must be allowed that the only horses that have this picturesque 

 look are shaggy ponies and cart horses. This proves only 

 that their rough exterior is the indication of the rusticity of 

 their habits, not that it is au intrinsic quality of the pictur- 

 esque, which has indeed no intrinsic qualities, like beauty, 

 but depends entirely on associations. Were the case reversed, 

 and were animals to become sleek when engaged in rustic 

 employments, and rough and hairy when fed and combed 

 and pampered by wealthy and lordly masters, in that case the 

 sleekest animals would be the most picturesque. The squir- 

 rel, which is a sleek and graceful animal, is, in spite of these 

 qualities, more picturesque than the rough and rusty looking 

 rat. In this instance the usual principle is reversed, because 

 the smoothness and gracefulness of the squirrel are associated 

 with his interesting habits of playfulness and agility, while 

 running about from branch to branch among his native groves. 

 On the contrary, the smooth and symmetrical horse cannot, 

 by any pictorial accompaniments, be made so picturesque as 

 the rough and homely ass. 



I have just alluded to the squirrel as one of the most pictur- 

 esque of the smaller animals ; but it is worthy of notice that 

 it must be represented in its native habitats to express this 

 character in full force. Though a squirrel in a cage is a 

 beautiful object, especially when turning his revolving grate 

 by the rapid motions of his feet, yet a picture of one in that 

 situation would have none of that suggestiveness of poetical 

 and agreeable fancies that renders a scene picturesque. In a 

 representation of a little cottage in the woods nothing could 

 add more to its pleasing pastoral expression than the figure of 

 a squirrel running along on a stone wall or on the branch of 

 an old tree. The sight awakens all those poetical images 

 which are associated with life in the fields. Place the squirrel 

 in a cage and it reminds us only of the town, and expresses 

 nothing that is agreeable to a poetic fancy. Every wild an- 

 imal must appear to be enjoying its freedom, or the represent- 

 ation of it would fail in giving any delight. The same is 

 true of the human racC; and while the laboring classes add 

 to the pleasing character of a scene in nature, a single figure. 



