96 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



" The oakj" says Gilpin, " is confessedly the most pictur- 

 esque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in compo- 

 sition. It refuses no subject, either in natural or in artificial 

 landscape. It is suited to the grandest, and may with pro- 

 priety be introduced into the most pastoral. It adds new- 

 dignity to the ruined tower, and the Gothic arch ; and by 

 stretching its wild, moss-grown branches athwart their ivied 

 walls, it gives them a kind of majesty coeval with itself; at 

 the same time, its propriety is still preserved if it throws its 

 arms over the purling brook or the mantling pool, where it 

 beholds 



'* Its reverend image in the expanse below." 



Milton introduces it happily even in the lowest scene — 



" Hard by a cottage chimney smokes, 

 From between two aged oaks." 



The oak is not only one of the grandest and most pictur- 

 esque objects as a single tree upon a lawn, but it is equally 

 unrivalled for groups and masses. There is a breadth about 

 the lights and shadows reflected and embosomed in its foliage, 

 a singular freedom and boldness in its outline, and a pleasing 

 richness and intricacy in its huge ramification of branch and 

 limb, that render it highly adapted to these purposes. Some 

 trees, as the willow, or the spiry poplar, though pleasing sin- 

 gly, are monotonous to the last degree when planted in quan- 

 tities. Not so however with the oak, as there is no tree when 

 forming a wood entirely by itself, which aifords so great a va- 

 riety of form and disposition, light and shade, symmetry and 

 irregularity, as this king of the forests. 



To arrive at its highest perfection, ample space on every 

 side must be allowed the oak. A free exposure to the sun 



