66 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



formly levelled ; the sweeps of the road so plainly artificial ; 

 the verges of grass that bound it so nicely edged ; the whole, 

 in short, has such an appearance of having been made by a 

 receipt, that curiosity is almost extinguished. 



But in these hollow lanes and by-roads all the leading 

 features promote the natural intricacy of the ground. The 

 turns are sudden and unprepared ; the banks sometimes bro- 

 ken and abrupt ; sometimes smooth, and gently but not uni- 

 formly sloping ; now wildly overhung with thickets of trees 

 and bushes ; now loosely skirted with wood ; no regular 

 verge of grass, no cut edges, no distinct lines of separation ; 

 all is mixed and blended together ; and the border of the 

 road itself, shaped by the mere tread of passengers and ani- 

 mals, is as unconstrained as the footsteps that formed it. 

 Even the tracks of wheels contribute to the picturesque efl'ect 

 of the whole. The lines they describe are full of variety ; 

 they just mark their way among trees and bushes, while any 

 obstacle, — a cluster of low thorns, a furze-bush, a tussock, a 

 large stone, — will force the wheels into sudden and intricate 

 turns ; at the same time these very obstacles add to that 

 variety and intricacy. Often a group of trees or a thicket 

 will cause the road to separate into two parts, leaving a sort 

 of island in the middle. Of these and numberless other 

 accidents painters have constantly availed themselves. 



In forests, it is inconceivable how much the various routes 

 in all directions, through the wild thickets, and among the 

 trunks of old trees, add to the interest and perplexed appear- 

 ance of the scenery. This effect would be totally destroyed, 

 if the tracks were all smoothed and made level, and a gravel 

 road, with easy sweeps, made in their room. Some of the 

 most striking varieties of form, of color, and of light and 

 shade, are, in these and many other scenes, owing to the 

 indiscriminate tracking of the peasant, nay, to the very decay 

 that is occasioned by it. When opposed to the lameness of 

 the poor pinioned trees of a gentleman's plantation drawn up 

 straight and even together, there is often a sort of spirit and 

 animation in the manner in which old neglected pollards 

 stretch out their immense limbs, quite across one of these 



