260 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



of a boundary line, are things which the ordinary individual 

 finds difficult to understand ; and, until he can understand it, 

 we can only advise him to cease from planting belts in the 

 first place, and to have no hesitation about breaking through 

 them where they already exist in the second. Where a 

 back-ground is wanted to a view, the grove is the most 

 effectual means of obtaining it, and, as a general rule, should 

 be employed. 



THE GROUP. 



A group of trees may be defined as a cluster of two or 

 three stems, the crowns of which unite in a compact mass of 

 foliage. At a distance groups have much the same effect as 

 single trees, but, when approached, the multiplicity of stems 

 and the interlacing of the larger branches invest them with 

 a character which is lacking in single trees. Parks without 

 such groups, therefore, are always more or less tame and 

 monotonous, and devoid of that variety which is desirable 

 when a large number of trees stand on a comparatively small 

 area. 



Groups may consist of almost any species, but probably 

 the most suitable are those which do not always make 

 shapely trees when standing singly. Such are Scots fir and 

 other pines, larch, and a few hardwoods, such as ash, oak, etc., 

 which are apt to make a more or less irregular stem when 

 standing alone. Planted in groups, they rarely fail to develop 

 something picturesque. The leaning stem, the one-sided 

 development of branches, and the massive character of the 

 combined stems, usually render them more or less attractive 

 to the lover of nature. The trees in them must, however, be 

 planted closely together at the first, and not at distances 

 which prevent close order, or the combination of crowns until 

 late in life. Four or five trees planted, say, 20 or 30 

 feet apart, can never form a true group, for the stems then 

 have the appearance of legs supporting a mass of foliage a 

 condition which they rarely, if ever, exhibit in nature. But 

 when planted so close that their stems, when mature, almost 

 touch at the base, they grow up and develop more as a single 

 tree than as two or three distinct individuals, and form 



