LANDSCAPE FORESTRY 237 



fullest and best developed crowns possessed by any tree; and 

 this often gives it a heavy and clumsy appearance, which few 

 lovers of the picturesque can find pleasure in contemplating. 

 This unpicturesque appearance is not so much due to the 

 full, round, and semi-globular shape of the crown, but to the 

 close and regular mass of foliage of which it is formed. In 

 all full-crowned trees which can be termed ornamental, this 

 character depends a great deal upon the openings or gaps 

 in the crown, due to the unequal length and size of the 

 branches, which does not necessarily affect their symmetry, 

 but gives light and shade effects, or depth, to the foliage. In 

 fact, the effect produced is much the same as that by the 

 broken and indented margin of a wood, or by single trees or 

 groups standing outside the margin. 



But, in the case of a beech crown, depth is invariably 

 absent, as the branches terminate in a mass of stiff twigs, 

 which present a regular surface of foliage or buds to the eye, 

 while the outline is equally regular, unbroken, and monoton- 

 ous. These were the features of beech trees which offended 

 the eye of Gilpin so greatly, and which led to his describing 

 the " massy, full - grown, luxuriant beech " as " rather a 

 displeasing tree." " It is made up of littlenesses, seldom 

 exhibiting those tufted cups or hollow dark recesses which 

 dispart the several grand branches of the more beautiful 

 kinds of trees." " In full leaf it is equally unpleasing : 

 it has the appearance of an overgrown bush," etc. etc. 



But in a grove or wood the above objectionable characters 

 are replaced by far more attractive ones. The round, globular, 

 bushy crown gives way to a tall column of bare stem, or, 

 when allowed more space, by a bole clothed more or less with 

 gracefully drooping, frond-like branches, which overlap each 

 other like the folds of a curtain. The leaves and spray 

 assume a more delicate texture, and that dinginess which 

 beech leaves put on in late summer, when exposed to a hot 

 sun, is rarely seen in the recesses of a wood. 



On a hillside the crowns of beech trees, when viewed 

 from a distance, exhibit a smoky purplish tint, which is very 

 beautiful in March and April, but the effect disappears when 

 approached. But to see a beech grove or wood breaking into 

 leaf in spring, or putting on its tints in autumn, is to see one of 



