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Notes from Abroad. — We are happy to be able to give another letter 

 from our esteemed friend and correspondent, the Hon. Joseph S. Cabot of 

 Salem, who ranks among the first horticulturists of the country, and who is 

 fully competent to observe and appreciate the beautiful and useful wherever he 

 may travel. We hope to hear from him often, as we believe his letters will 

 prove very interesting to all our readers, and especially so to those who enjoy 

 the honor of his acquaintance. 



To the Editor of "The Journal of Horticulture." 



Sir, — When I said, as I did in my last, that I thought the beauty of English 

 scenery was somewhat dependent on the fertility of its soil and its high cultiva- 

 tion, I did not, of course, intend to express an opinion that these alone were 

 sufficient for a beautiful landscape. On the contrary, fertility and cultivation 

 alone, without any adjuncts, becomes wearisome and monotonous. With no 

 variety, the eye becomes tired of luxuriant vegetation, and desires something to 

 break the continuity of the view, and upon which, for a time, it may repose. A 

 broad, fertile tract of country, no matter how great its fertility, without trees or 

 mountain, is wearisome to the eye ; but plant the same with trees judiciously and 

 artistically arranged into groups and masses, and it becomes to it a source of 

 never-ending delight. In rural scenery, trees usually form one of its most, if not 

 its most, attractive features ; and no landscape, whatever its merits in other re- 

 spects, can afford to dispense with them : their absence produces the feeling of 

 a want that they alone seem capable of supplying. But if, under conditions other- 

 wise favorable, trees are important, if not necessary, under another and unfavora- 

 ble aspect they become absolutely indispensable, — it may be to hide deformity 



