1700 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



from the whiteness of its bark, which renders it more conspicuous in winter 

 than in summer. Its stem, as Gilpin observes, " is generally marked with 

 brown, yellow, and silvery touches, which are peculiarly picturesque, as they 

 are characteristic objects of imitation for the pencil, and as they contrast 

 agreeably with the dark green hue of the foliage. But only the stem and 

 larger branches have this varied colouring. The spray is of a deep brown, which 

 is the colour, too, of the larger branches where the external rind is peeled off 

 As the birch grows old, its bark becomes rough and furrowed : it loses all its 

 varied tints, and assumes a uniform ferruginous hue." (Forest Scenery, vol. i. 

 p. 70.) The weeping variety, which, Gilpin says, is sometimes % called the 

 lady birch, from " its spray being slender, and longer than that of the common 

 sort, forms an elegant, pensile foliage, like that of the weeping willow ; and, 

 like it, is put in motion* by the least breath of air. When agitated, it is well 

 adapted to characterise a storm, or to perform any office in landscape which 

 is expected from the weeping willow." (7foW.) 



The birch, however, being an extremely common tree in various districts, 

 and never being suffered to grow in any quantity, in its native countries, in 

 those soils and situations where other trees will thrive, there are certain asso- 

 ciations connected with it which are unfavourable to its use in gardenesque 

 scenery. Nevertheless, it must be allowed that these associations can only 

 be experienced by those who have seen the tree in its native habitats. Natives 

 of Scotland, North Wales, Sweden, Russia, and Germany would regard the 

 birch as indicating poor, sandy, boggy, or rocky soil ; and would not place 

 it on a lawn ; from the same feelings that would prevent a London planter 

 from placing there the alder, or any of the common willows. In the gar- 

 denesque style, therefore, or in that species of picturesque which is an 

 imitation of nature, and not an identification of her scenery, the birch, in most 

 parts of Europe, would require to be planted in situations where it would not 

 be conspicuous ; and never where it would form a leading feature in any 

 general view. The same principle applies in the case of every indigenous tree ; 

 and with a force proportionate to the commonness of that tree in the country 

 where the gardenesque plantation is to be made. A residence planted in a 

 style truly gardenesque ought, as we have often observed, to have no indigenous 

 trees in it whatever. 



Where plantations are to be made in the elegant or artistical picturesque 

 style, and which are intended to form scenes which will be considered 

 by painters as equally worthy of their study with picturesque natural 

 scenery, and yet never for a moment be mistaken for it, the introduc- 

 tion of the birch must be guided by exactly the same principles as in the 

 gardenesque. It must never be planted in small groups, but always in 

 groups of such a size as to be only seen in association with other trees. 

 The exceptions to this last rule are, situations at a distance from scenery 

 where the birch is indigenous; and these may be considered as occur- 

 ring in all fertile valleys and plains. However beautiful the birch tree may 

 be in itself, and especially when it assumes the weeping form, it would be 

 inconsistent with sound principles to plant it on lawns either in North Wales 

 or the Highlands of Scotland ; though in the neighbourhood of London, and 

 many parts of England, it may be justly admitted, even on lawns, as one of the 

 most elegant of our ornamental trees. 



Where the common birch is so favourite a tree as to make it desired in 

 considerable numbers, the only mode of introducing it into artificial scenery 

 in countries where it abounds, is by planting it in avenues, or in geometrical 

 lines ; or by having a scene expressly devoted to a fac-simile imitation of nature. 

 Where, in planting a park, the object is to cause it to be mistaken for a 

 natural forest, then, if the soil is poor, the birch may be planted or sown in im- 

 mense quantities; the object in this case being fac-simile imitation. In every resi- 

 dence, also, where there is an arboretum (and we trust that the time will soon 

 come when there will be no gentleman's seat of any extent without one), the 

 birch, like every other indigenous tree, will, of course, find a place. In resi- 

 dences to be formed in hilly or mountainous scenery where the birch does 



