2io ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



ground, so that the different parts of the view run insen- 

 sibly one into the other. 



The most desirable characteristics of fore-ground trees 

 are lightness, grace, and symmetry. Such trees not only 

 act as reflectors of light and absorbers of shade, but are, or 

 should be, in themselves objects of interest. Their outlines 

 should be graceful, their limbs should possess easy sweeps 

 and curves, and their foliage should exhibit sufficient variation 

 in its density, and beauty in its detail, to render them at all 

 times attractive objects to a critical eye. Ugly trees or 

 clumsy groups should therefore never be allowed to stand 

 close to a country mansion, residence, or principal point of 

 view, nor should heavy-foliaged trees stand in such situations 

 on a large scale. Grace, elegance, and lightness are the 

 qualities most desired in such places, although an occasional 

 exception to this rule may sometimes have a good effect 

 where screens or contrasts are desired. Such trees, for 

 instance, as birch, aspen, acacia, ash, etc., are more appropriate 

 to the fore-ground of a view than beech, hornbeam, sycamore, 

 or many evergreen conifers, although the contour of the 

 ground generally and the character of the back-ground may 

 make all the difference to the effect produced by any of these 

 trees. 



With clumps, again, dense solid masses rarely produce 

 good effects. Clumps or groups in the fore-ground should 

 either be beautiful or picturesque, according to the particular 

 character of the trees which form them. As a general rule, 

 picturesqueness is more often a feature of desirable clumps 

 than beauty, so far as trees are concerned. Occasionally a 

 clump of symmetrical conifers, or ornamental foliaged or 

 flowering trees may deserve the term " beautiful," but with 

 ordinary forest trees a clump that is not picturesque as well 

 is seldom worth having. It is difficult, for instance, to see 

 much beauty in a group of oaks or Scots firs, but they may 

 often be extremely picturesque. The gnarled and twisted 

 outlines of the branches, and the massive lichen-stained stems 

 of the former, or the tall red columns of the latter, sur- 

 mounted by dark, glaucous, dome-shaped crowns and pendent 

 plumes, resembling a Highland bonnet, are features upon 

 which the eye never tires of gazing ; but it is seldom that 



