562 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Gardening 



Wood. 



.s of 

 tree. 



Of the Ma- [ n its ttirn. In this way it will generally be found, 

 J< of that the number of species, and the extent and style of 

 the masses in which they prevail, bears a strict analogy 

 to the changes of soil and surface ; and this holds good, 

 not only with respect to trees and shrubs, but to plants, 

 grasses, and even the mossy tribe. 



With this principle of distribution, any number of 

 species may be admitted into improved grounds; com- 

 mencing with the rare sorts near the house, as the 

 centre of art and refinement, and ending with the com- 

 mon trees of the country, at such distances as the ex- 

 tent and style of the whole may suggest. The propor- 

 tions of such trees as are only ornamental, and such as 

 we valuable as timber, must be in some degree deter- 

 mined by the character of the place, but chiefly by the 

 taste and view of the owner. Beauty alone, without 

 utility, will not long please ; and a few single groups 

 and plants of the rarer species, in the grounds mort- im- 

 mediately consecrated to man, will generally afford 

 more satisfaction than a lavish display of exotics ; the 

 former will always present a more luxuriant and thriv- 

 ing display of scenery than the latter, and sooner attain 

 the maturity of beauty. 



In determining the order of the sorts, regard must 

 be had, not only to choose forms and colours which will 

 accord and form harmonious breadths of woody sur- 

 face to the eye, but to place every species as much as 

 possible in its natural situation. The more delicate 

 sorts should be placed in sheltered, the more hardy in 

 exposed surfaces ; the resinous tribe on hills and rocky 

 ground ; and aquatics in low vallies, banks of rivers, or 

 dells, using caution, howevjer, not to display an expres- 

 sion of moisture or bleakness, when the idea of dryness 

 and shelter would be more desirable. In precarious situ- 

 ations, a thin sprinkling of the best common hardy trees, 

 as of the oak, birch, Scotch fir, &c. should extend over 

 the whole residence in case of accident to the others. In 

 such cases, it is always best to depend on the native, or 

 naturalized trees, for general effect, and confine the 

 introduction of foreign sorts to the shrubbery or some 

 other limited scene. Mr. Price has treated this sub- 

 ject with much ingenuity ; and in reprobating the 

 common practice of mixing as many different sorts 

 as can be procured, in order to produce variety, ob- 

 serves, that " variety, of which the true end is to re- 

 lieve the eye, not to perplex it, does not consist in the 

 diversity of separate objects, but in the diversity of 

 their effects when combined together, in a difference of 

 composition and character. Many think, however, that 

 they have obtained that grand object, when they have 

 exhibited in one body all the hard names of the Lin- 

 na;an system ; but when as many plants as can be well 

 got together are exhibited in every shrubbery, or in 

 every plantation, the result is a sameness of a different 

 kind, but not less truly a sameness than would arise 

 from their being no diversity at all ; for there is no 

 having variety of character, without a certain distinct- 

 ness, without certain marked features on which the eye 

 can dwell." 



5. 7'Ae manner of 'planting is alike suggested by na- 

 ture ; and the plants ought to be inserted in such a 

 way, that if any particular part were separately exami- 

 ned, it might present clusters of groups not equidistant 

 plants. The effect of this arrangement will not be 

 that composition of low and high, oblique and upright 

 steins, and young and old trees, and low growths, 

 which we find in forest scenery ; but it is all that can 

 be done in imitation of it at the first planting; and sub- 

 sequent thinning, pruning, cutting down, moving, fkn- 



Of the 1W 

 teriaU o 



Manner of 

 planting. 



Wood. 



Mannero 



plsniiig. 



versing, planting, and sowing, must be used from time 

 to time to complete the imitation or allusion, unless the 

 owner will rest satisfied with an inferior degree of 

 beauty. 



In plantations of trees alone, to plant thick is, we ap- 

 prehend, a great error, because it leaves so much to the 

 risk of future management ; and even should this be 

 bestowed, the first and second thinnings are of no more 

 use than as faggot wood ; but where trees and iindt-r- 

 growths are mixed together, any degree of proximity 

 may be admitted between the plants, because the trees 

 will always overtop the low growths ; and if thinning 

 is attended to, the low growths will be of as much va- 

 lue during the first ten years as in the wther case. The 

 best general rule is, to put in the trees at such distan- 

 ces, as that, when so far advanced as to require thinninr, 

 they will have attained such a magnitude as to be of 

 use, as poles or timber ; and to fill up the intervals 

 with under-growths, which may be removed or not at 

 pleasure. , 



6. The fences, in imitative planting, are to be consi- Fences, 

 dered as only temporary ; and therefore, as a general 



rule, the cheapest fence the local situation will afford 

 will be the best, regard being had, that they shall en- 

 dure till the trees, shrubs, and growths shall, in the 

 given soil and exposure, have attained a sufficient age 

 to protect themselves against the injury of sheep and 

 cattle. The present improved state of the manufacture 

 of iron offers a very desirable accommodation in this 

 respect, affording the best guards for single plants and 

 groups ; and iron hurdles, or hurdles indeed of any 

 sort for masses, have a light and temporary appearance, 

 highly congenial to the idea of their speedy removal. 

 The lines of the fences conforming to the irregular 

 shapes of the masses will not be disagreeable to the 

 eye, if those of the thickets are arranged with any re- 

 gard to apparent connection ; for any objects, whether 

 lines or forms, however deficient in beauty of them- 

 selves, acquire a degree of interest, and even character, 

 when connected and arranged in such a way as to form 

 a whole. 



When a plantation is finally to be composed both of 

 trees and under-growths, thorns, sloes, hollies, barber- 

 ries, and briars, may, in many cases, prevail in the mar- 

 gin, which, when the fence is removed, will form a pic- 

 turesque phalanx, and protect the whole. Partial in- 

 roads, formed by cattle, will only heighten the variety 

 and intricacy of such masses. 



7. So much depends on the future management, of 

 plantations, that we cannot avoid expressing our deep 

 regret that so little attention is generally paid to the 

 subject. To consider that as finished which is only 

 commenced, is a common failing ; but in no part of 

 landscape gardening of more unhappy consequences, 

 both in regard to future beauty and use, than in the arti- 

 cle of planting. A plantation is too often allowed to grow- 

 up like a field of corn, and, like it, at the end of a few 

 years, is fit only to be swept down in a body. The 

 beauty, grandeur, and effect of thick plantations of 

 trees in a neglected state, is reduced inversely as their 

 progress to maturity ; for their side branches rot and 

 drop off, the light is seen through a rank of naked stems, 

 whose " inglorious heads," as the poet remarks, serve 

 only to " blot the fair horizon." Thinning and pru- 

 ning are the obvious means of averting these bad con- 

 sequences, where the plantation consists of trees alone, 

 or in the greater part ; and the planter, from what has 

 been already advanced, will effect this with a joint view 

 to the value of the timber, and the picturesque disposi- 



Manage- 

 ment. 



