LANDSCAPE FORESTRY 209 



trees to attain his desired results is in the unfortunate 

 position of every planter he can only lay the foundation 

 upon which his successors may build. If the latter happen 

 to be merely jerry-builders instead of masters in the art, 

 the work of the designer is often spoilt, and a very different 

 result attained to that which was intended. 



TKEES IN THE FORE-GROUND. 



In discussing the various effects which trees produce 

 upon a landscape of any kind, it is necessary to divide them 

 into two classes, namely, those which stand singly or in small 

 groups, and owe their effect to their isolation as individuals, 

 and those which stand so closely together as to form more 

 or less compact masses in which individual trees cannot be 

 recognised at a distance from their fellows. In the former 

 class the position of every tree, as well as its size, shape, 

 and character, are of importance, for it forms a distinct 

 detail in the landscape, which is either necessary to its com- 

 pleteness, or forms a superfluous element which would be 

 better away. Such trees, of course, are of more importance 

 in the fore-ground of a landscape, because the nearer they 

 stand to the eye, the greater the space they occupy in the 

 picture, and the greater their ability to block out what is 

 behind. Generally speaking, the great beauty of a wooded 

 landscape is its intricacy and depth. A solid mass of wood 

 has no depth unless the fore-ground possesses trees or small 

 groups which shorten the view here and there, obscuring 

 the back-ground in some places, and rendering it visible at 

 others. At a distance of a mile, a wood of 10 acres appears 

 as a low bank, and the details of stem and foliage, as well 

 as the actual height above the ground level (which is apparent 

 at close range), are entirely lost. But when a back-ground 

 of foliage is extended forward in gradually decreasing quan- 

 tities, the component parts of which are apparently in- 

 creasing in breadth and height, it ceases to form a detached 

 and distant feature of the landscape, but appears as a 

 gradually receding continuation of the middle-ground, which 

 latter, again, is blended with the various objects of the fore- 

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