20 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



and shrubs only ai-e used, they may be planted in irregular masses or groups, 

 and as single trees. If indigenous trees and shrubs are at any time intro- 

 duced in the modern style of landscapc-gai'dening, the greatest care must be 

 taken not to crowd, or even group, them together in such a manner as that a 

 stranger might conclude they had grown up there naturally. They must be 

 placed so as to stand distinct from other trees and shrubs, and so as to take 

 forms more perfectly developed than what the same species are found to have 

 in a natural or accidental state in the surrounding country. For example, in 

 a country abounding with the common English oak, no artist, who under- 

 stands his art, would employ that tree in his artificial plantations, unless at 

 their boundaries, so as to harmonise them with the natural woods of the 

 country ; or unless in an avenue, or in some other way in which they could at 

 once be recognised as having been planted. But, supposing that one indige- 

 nous oak existed in the midst of his artificial plantation, which he was obliged 

 to retain; or that he were absolutely required to plant one; or that he were 

 desirous of having one to complete a collection; how is that tree, supposed 

 to be common in the neighbourhood, to be treated, so as to subject it to the 

 principle of the recognition of art, and yet so as not to violate its natural 

 form^ by clipping it in the ancient manner ? To answer this question, it is 

 necessary to consider the state of the common oaks in the neighbourhood: 

 these are, in all probability, either crowded in oak woods, or pruned or other- 

 wise mutilated in hedgerows. Give the oak, in the artificial plantation, 

 therefore, ample room on every side ; preserve it from cattle, and let its 

 branches stretch out all around, and hang down upon the ground ; and you 

 have at once a tree of art, and of great natural beauty. Water, bounded by 

 the formal lines of the ancient style is easily recognisable as artificial : but how 

 is this end to be attained in a style which professes to be an imitation of 

 nature ? There are two kinds of water, in imitations of natural scenery. 

 One is, where there already exists a brook, or a lake, or a river, which is to 

 be appropriated, and rendered a work of art ; and the other is, where there is 

 no visible water naturally, but where excavations are to be made, and to be 

 filled with water, which is to assume the character of a lake or river. In the 

 first case, the brook, lake, or river, is readily appropriated as a work of art, 

 by planting exotic, woody, and herbaceous plants along the margins, in a 

 natural looking manner; carefully removing all that are indigenous, with the 

 exception, perhaps, of such as are not conspicuous, as the usual grasses which 

 compose turf. Thus, the cut-leaved alder might be substituted for the com- 

 mon species ; the weeping poplar, or the weeping willow (if not too common 

 in the neighbourhood), and the paper birch, for the common willow and 

 birch ; and that truly elegant exotic aquatic tree, the deciduous cypress, 

 might be made the prevailing species. 



ol. The application of the principle of the recognition of art to rocky scenery 

 may, at first sight, appear to present some difficulties. By rocky scenery is 

 here meant scenes of nature in which rocks are predominant features. By 

 what means, for example, are the terrace walk and the perpendicular rocks 

 on the banks of the river Wye, at Piercefield in Monmouthshire, to be ren- 

 dered a work of art? By substituting another kind of rock for the indigenous 

 one ? No ; for not only is the scale too large to render this practicable, but, 

 if it were accomplislicd, the very largeness of the scale would make it to be 

 still considered as the work of nature ; unless, indeed, rocks, which every one 



