212 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



THE MIDDLE- AND BACK-GROUND. 



Compared with the fore-ground, the smaller details of 

 the middle- and back-ground of a wooded view are compara- 

 tively unimportant. At anything beyond a distance of a 

 mile or so, trees simply become masses of light or shade, 

 according to their foliage, or the light which is reflected 

 from them. It is therefore the size of such masses, and 

 their relation to one another, that render them picturesque 

 or the reverse. Their effect is also considerably modified 

 by the shape and contour of the ground, and is very dif- 

 ferent on a flat surface to what it is on a hillside, or 

 undulating ground. In either case, however, the function of 

 a back-ground is to increase the depth of a view, and so 

 remove that flatness which is peculiar to all objects which 

 are apparently at about the same distance from the eye of 

 the observer. Depth and flatness may be well illustrated 

 by the appearance of the scenery presented by a theatrical 

 stage, and the drop curtain hanging in front of it. Although 

 both are within a few yards of the audience, the latter 

 appears nearer, and the former farther away, than either 

 really are ; the true distances being concealed by the absence 

 of familiar standards by which the eye can judge them. In 

 a landscape, depth is obtained by constantly varying the 

 distance across which the eye can roam uninterrupted, so as 

 to necessitate a constant change of focus, and giving the view 

 a succession of fore- and back-grounds without leaving per- 

 ceptible gaps in between. Back- and middle-grounds are, 

 therefore, part and parcel of one another ; for the one cannot 

 exist without the other, nor should there be any perceptible 

 division between them. While the fore-ground is chiefly 

 composed of single trees or small groups, the back-ground is 

 only effective on flat ground, when the groups or clumps are 

 of large size, and able to block out the view beyond when 

 such is desired. 



At what distance a back-ground of trees ceases to produce 

 an effect on flat ground is a doubtful point. An English 

 landscape is invariably sufficiently varied, and dotted over 

 with trees of some kind or another, to render a view with a 



