250 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



which have some resemblance to the natural forest or wooded 

 waste of olden times, in so far that there is no sharp 

 distinction between the land occupied by pasture and that 

 by timber. They may vary in extent from a hundred to 

 a thousand or more acres in extent, but in either case their 

 attraction depends upon the distribution and character of the 

 trees they contain, and the fitness of the latter for the 

 positions they occupy. 



The character of park timber may vary from the specimen 

 tree grown in the open, and perfectly symmetrical in outline 

 and form, to the bare stems and small suppressed crowns of 

 the type of tree peculiar to close plantations. The one class 

 of tree is as essential as the other, and all of the intermediate 

 forms should be well represented in a perfect park. This 

 variety, of course, can only be obtained after a sufficient time 

 has elapsed for all specimens to develop and mature. The 

 shapely lime or the full-headed horse-chestnut may be ob- 

 tained in twenty or thirty years ; the gnarled and shattered 

 oak may require five hundred. The one type can be ob- 

 tained within the lifetime of a man ; the other is more the 

 result of accident and neglect, and the effect of a long period 

 of time, than to any definite forethought or design. Yet we 

 are accustomed to look for both classes in a park of any 

 extent, and something appears to be lacking when one or the 

 other is absent. Fortunately, most of our parks have been in 

 existence long enough to enable most trees to develop, and 

 many of them to decay and disappear. Others, again, have 

 been formed from parts of ancient forests, the tree-growth of 

 which, in the form of oak or ash pollards, still lingers on, 

 and gives that touch of hoary antiquity to ground which has 

 otherwise been " laid out " centuries after the first enclosure 

 was made. 



A great difference of opinion still prevails on the subject 

 of park treatment. Some appear to entertain the idea that a 

 park should be a pleasure ground or arboretum on a large 

 scale, roads taking the place of walks, and the teeth of deer, 

 sheep, and cattle that of the gardener's mowing machine. 

 We often find parks planted with specimen coniferous trees, 

 fenced round with scrupulous care, and occasionally sur- 

 rounded by a " trimmed " hedge or " ha-ha." The trees 



