COUNTRY VILLAS. '217 



all objections. All the trees introduced for the purpose of harmonising the 

 interior of the ring-fence with the scenery without, in such a case as that 

 before us, need not exceed 50 or 60 ; and it will most commonly happen that 

 these may already exist in the condemned hedgerows, or in scattered groups 

 in the fields, as is the case, to a considerable extent, in the plan fig. 105., 

 p. 199. The trees in the old hedgerows which it may be thought advisable 

 to save, will only want to be freed from the thorns and other hedge plants 

 (except a few left to group with them), and to have the ground about tliem 

 levelled down and smoothed. The groups already existing may either be 

 thinned out or added to, as may be found requisite. 



316. It may be here observed, that, in the geometric style of laying out 

 grouvds, the mode of harmonising a residence with the surrounding country 

 was, by the projection into it of a continuation of those avenues and lines of 

 trees which formed part of the residence. This implied the possession of the 

 grounds beyond the park fence ; and, when this is the case in the modern 

 style, a few groups without the boundary fence, of the same kind of trees as 

 those within, will effect the same object. This used to be frequently done 

 when a park or parks were surrounded by a common : and Hounslow Heath was 

 formerly clumped, for the sake of the adjoining country seats of Syon, Syon 

 Hill, &c. ; as Cobham Common was, to appropriate it, in the eye of exclusive 

 taste, to Claremont and Esher. 



317. All the foreign trees and shrubs that are to be introduced in order to 

 complete this residence, we intend to plant without fences, and to place at 

 such distances as that they will not require any thinning for at least ten 

 years. The ground on which these are to be planted is supposed to be 

 thoroughly trenched and drained, and even, where necessary, manured, 

 before planting it; so that the trees and shrubs cannot fail to thrive rapidly. 

 During the growth of these trees, we would not allow any grass or weeds to 

 grow within several feet of their stems ; but, at the same time, we would not 

 dig the surface, but only hoe it, to destroy the weeds, and fork up the soil to 

 the depth of three or four inches, to render it a conductor of heat and 

 moisture, and to admit air to the fibrous roots which i-ise up near the surface. 

 We would not, during the same period, prune oiF any of the bide branches, 

 except such as had begun to decay, leaving each tree and shrub to assume its 

 natural shape. 



318. Some will imagine that a plantatioii in which the trees are at such a 

 distance apart will appear thin ; and this, we allow, will be the case for two or 

 three years at first ; but in the fourth year, in consequence of the lateral 

 branches extending themselves, there will be an appearance of richness and 

 massiveness in such a plantation, which plantations as thick as they are 

 generally made never acquire at any age. There is not a greater mistake, 

 nor one more commonly made by practical gardeners, no less than by 

 amateurs, than that of planting thick, with a view to producing a dense mass 

 of foliage that shall not be seen through ; and which shall thus become a 

 screen to objects which it is desired to conceal. On the contrary, the true 

 and only mode of producing a dense mass of trees or shrubs is, to plant so 

 thinly as to admit of each tree or shrub becoming clothed with branches from 

 the ground upwards. A plantation of this kind, of only two trees or shrubs 

 in depth (the plants being inserted alternately), will, as soon as their branches 

 touch, form an etfectual screen ; whereas a plantation of scores of trees in 



