504} SckelVs Landscape-Gardening, 



cypress or the yew, and it is therefore often a pleasant object in 

 gardens, and particularly adapted for murmuring streams. 



The weeping birch (Z^etula alba pendula), and the deciduous 

 cypress (Taxodiuni distichum), have somewhat of the same cha- 

 racter of melancholy and sorrow, as their branches hang down 

 like those of the weeping willow. They should, therefore, be ap- 

 plied in the same manner. 



The cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus Libani), the queen of trees, 

 is said to have furnished the timber of the temple of Solomon, 

 that of Diana at Ephesus, and several others. The wooden- 

 work of marriage beds was made of this tree, as a symbol of 

 purity and constancy. This tree was sacred to the Eumenides. 



The yew ( Taxus baccata) was, with the poppy and the saffron, 

 dedicated to Ceres. This tree was very much used in the 

 ancient symmetrical style of gardening, where it was spoiled by 

 the use of the shears, being clipped into the most unnatural and 

 laughable forms. Its character is gloomy and melancholy ; and it 

 should, therefore, only be planted in such situations in the natural 

 garden as are wished to have an expression of melancholy and 

 oneliness. 



The plane tree (Platanus orientalis) was dedicated to Genius. 

 A temple, or a pantheon, erected to learned men and heroes, 

 and in which their busts ought to be placed, should stand in 

 a grove of /^latanus. 



It was under the lime tree (Tllia europae^a) that the merry 

 rustic youth assembled ; and this tree was also often used as a 

 remembrance of a victory gained, or of any great event that had 

 taken place. It was sacred to Venus. The son of William 

 Tell, the Swiss, is said to have stood under a lime tree 

 when his father shot the apple on his head. Baucis was changed 

 into a lime tree. 



The arrows of love spoken of by the poets were made from 

 the wood of the ash (i^raxinus excelsior) : this tree may there- 

 fore be planted in the background of a temple dedicated to 

 Cupid. The ash and the quitch grass (Triticum repens) were 

 also dedicated to Mars. 



The birch, or May tree (Setula alba), is dedicated to love and 

 friendship in the month of May: a temple, therefore, when 

 dedicated to these noble feelings, should be surrounded by the 

 birch, as a symbol of love and friendship. 



The fruit of the apple tree (Pyrus Mains) was an emblem of 

 the earth, and the attribute of perfection and beauty, and there- 

 fore dedicated to Venus, because this prize was adjudged to her 

 by Paris. The apple tree is also the attribute of Hercules, 

 because, in mythological fable, he overcame the dragon which 

 guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. 



The pear tree (Pyrus communis) belonged to Minerva. 



