40 



MANUAL OF GARDENING 



Odd and formal trees. 



It is but a corollary of this discussion to say that plants which 

 are simply odd or grotesque or unusual should be used with the 

 greatest caution, for they introduce extraneous and jarring 

 effects. They are little in sympathy with a landscape garden. 

 An artist would not care to paint an evergreen that is sheared 

 into some grotesque shape. It is only curious, and shows what 



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32. A weeping tree at one side of the grounds and supported by a background. 



a man with plenty of time and long pruning shears can ac- 

 complish. A weeping tree (particularly of a small-growing 

 species) is usually seen to best advantage when it stands against 

 a group or mass of foliage (Fig. 32), as a promontory, adding 

 zest and spirit to the border; it then has relation with the place. 

 This leads me to speak of the planting of the Lombardy 

 poplar, which may be taken as a type of the formal tree, and as an 

 illustration of what I mean to express. Its chief merits to the 

 average planter are the quickness of its growth and the readiness 

 with which it multiplies by sprouts. But in the North it is 

 likely to be a short-lived tree, it suffers from storms, and it has 



