ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 83 



plentiful as to give the whole a mingled and confused look ; 

 in which neither the beautiful and sweeping outlines of the 

 round-headed, or the picturesque summits of the spiry-topped 

 trees predominate : as the former decidedly should in all 

 scenes where the expression is not stronger than that of mere 

 graceful beauty. 



The larch, to which we shall hereafter recur at some 

 length, may be considered one of the most picturesque trees 

 of this division ; and being more rapid in its growth than 

 most evergreens, it may be used as a substitute for, or in con- 

 junction with them, where effect is speedily desired. 



Oblong-headed trees, show heads of foliage more length- 

 ened out, more formal, and generally more tapering, than 

 round-headed ones. They differ from spiry-top- 

 ped trees in having upright branches, instead of 

 horizontal ones, and in forming a conical or pyra- 

 'ifefdedTr«'°f ■ niidal mass of foliage, instead of a spiry, tufted 

 one. They are mostly deciduous ; and approaching more 

 nearly to round-headed trees, than sj)iry-topped ones do, they 

 may perhaps be more frequently introduced. The Lombardy 

 poplar may be considered the representative of this division ; 

 as the oak is of the first, and the larch and fir of the second. 

 Abroad, the oriental cypress, an evergreen, is used to produce 

 similar effects in scenery. 



The great use of the Lombardy poplar, and other similar 

 trees in composition, is to relieve, or break into groups, large 

 masses of wood. This it does very effectually, when its tall 

 summit rises at intervals from among round-headed trees, 

 forming pyramidal centres to groups, where there was only 

 a swelling and flowing outline. Formal rows, or groups of 

 oblong-headed trees, however, are tiresome and monotonous 

 to the last degree ; a straight line of them being scarcely bet- 



