ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 79 



divisions. The term includes all those trees which have an 

 irregular surface in their boughs, more or less 

 varied in outline, but exhibiting in the whole 



(Pig. 10 R^ndheaded a top Or hcad comparatively round ; as the 

 . oak, ash, beech, and walnut. They are generally beau- 

 tiful when young, from their smoothness, and the elegance 

 of their forms ; but often grow picturesque, when age and 

 time have had an opportunity to produce their wonted effects 

 upon them. In general, however, the different round-headed 

 trees may be considered as the most appropriate for introduc- 

 tion in peaceful, or cultivated scenery, or landscapes where 

 the character is that of natural or polished beauty ; as they 

 harmonize with almost all scenes, buildings, and natural or 

 artificial objects, uniting well with other forms, and doing 

 violence to no expression of scenery. From the numerous 

 breaks in the surface of their foliage, which reflect differently 

 the lights, and produce deep shadows, there is great intricacy 

 and variety in the heads of many round-topped trees ; and 

 therefore, as an outer surface to meet the eye in a plantation, 

 they are much more agreeable than the unbroken line exhi- 

 bited by the sides of oblong or spiry-topped trees. The sky- 

 outline, also, or the upper part of the head, varies greatly 

 in round-topped trees, from the irregularity in the disposition 

 of the upper branches in different species, as the oak and ash, 

 or even between individual specimens of the same kind of 

 tree, as the oak, of which we rarely see two trees alike in 

 form and outline, although they have the same characteristic 

 expression ; while, on the other hand, no two verdant objects 

 can bear a greater general resemblance to each other, and 

 show more sameness of figure, than two Lombardy poplars. 

 "In a tree," says Uvedale Price, "of which the foliage is 



everywhere full and unbroken, there can be but little variety 



