So THE ART AND PRACTICE OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



When the ground is broken or undulating, the advantage should 

 be seized of marking eminences by planting. Rising ground may be 

 in appearance raised still higher if we cover it with wood. The trees 

 should be tallest as they reach the summit. Trees standing singly 

 mark and emphasize falling ground. Plantations crossing falling 

 ground generally are inharmonious to the broad effect. The brow 

 of an eminence should not be seen above trees ; and if the brow forms 

 a tedious continued line, it should be broken by clumps or large 

 masses along its range, and by dividing the line into very unequal 

 parts. Openings thus created may be treated by placing at the sides 

 of them, at all events not in the line of vision, various small clumps, so 

 as to train the spectator's glance in the given direction, and to promote 

 the idea of distance. The outlines of groups in a park should not 

 be regular, or in a succession of easy sweeps, or form a serpentine 

 line. They should have strong prominences marked by detached 

 trees that stand boldly in the group, and they should present deep 

 recesses. Exactness in outline will not be preserved ; but if the 

 general features be well set out, natural alterations due to the growth 

 of the plants will not spoil the effect. In plantations near the eye, 

 lights and shadows are more apparent than on distant groups of 

 trees ; the effects are stronger ; therefore dark foliage planted in a 

 near recess makes it appear deeper still. White foliage, or blossoms, 

 seem to be nearer to the spectator than they really are. Objects 

 become fainter in effect as they retire from the eye. A detached 

 clump, or a single tree of lighter green, will therefore seem to be 

 further off than an equidistant planting of darker hue. A regulated 

 gradation of one tint to another will apparently alter the length of 

 a continuous plantation, according as the gradation commences with 

 foliage of light or dark green. When a long continuous line of 

 planting fronting the eye cannot well be broken, because perhaps 

 it may serve as shelter, or for some other reason, a variation of line 



