Trees; their General Character and Advantages. 341 



to the very summit, the branches extending horizontally, or 

 nearly so, and always at the same angle in the same whorl 

 with the perpendicular trunk, and gradually decreasing in 

 length from the root to the summit of the tree. This man- 

 ner of growth causes it to assume a pyramidal form which is 

 more remarkable than in any other species. These trees, 

 when perfect, are clothed with branches down almost to their 

 roots. 



The deciduous trees divide their trunk into several branch- 

 es, after attaining a certain height, and these are seldom given 

 out horizontally or at regular distances. Hence their regu- 

 larity is general, not formal ; and is more apparent in their 

 outlines than in the arrangements of their branches. In trees 

 of the coniferous tribe we look for symmetry and geometrical 

 beauty ; in the deciduous trees for elegance and grace, with- 

 out formality. Hence the latter may lose much of their gen- 

 eral proportions, and still be pleasing objects to the sight ; but 

 any imperfection in the shape of the former, as in a geomet- 

 rical figure, is fatal to their beauty, and renders them worth- 

 less as ornaments of highly cultivated scenery. It is on this 

 account that the coniferous evergreens are, for the most part, 

 in better harmony with rude and mountainous situations, 

 than with richly decorated landscapes. 



The value of trees as beautiful objects would be greatly 

 diminished, if they never changed their appearance. In this 

 habit consists the superiority of the deciduous trees, as com- 

 pared with the evergreens. The latter are more or less 

 wearisome to the sight, by wearing forever the same dark- 

 green sombre foliage. The evergreens, however, are the 

 charm and the glory of winter ; and the landscape that is 

 destitute of them, at this season, is tame and cheerless, and 

 wanting in what is most beautiful to the sight and suggestive 

 of out-of-door comfort and protection from the cold. Not 

 only by their verdure do they relieve the desolate aspect of 

 winter, but by their contrast they make the splendor of the 

 autumnal tints more remarkable in the decline of the year. 

 Our northern evergreens, consisting chiefly of the coniferous 

 species, bear no conspicuous flowers — a deficiency that adds 

 still greater monotony to their general appearance. 



