^66 Landscape-Gardenbig, 



well with buildings ; their soft outline and mellow colours 

 harmonise so well with the lines and shadows of the archi- 

 tecture. 



Picturesque Trees are all such as present a bold rugged 

 outline; trunk stout, deformed, knotty; branches tortuous, 

 and h'regularly projecting; spray and foliage in dense and 

 strongly marked masses. Such are the common oak, Spanish 

 chestnut, cork tree, cedar of Lebanon, pinaster, the Scotch fir, 

 common ash, and elm when old. 



Magnificent Trees are such as, from the splendour of their 

 flowers, extent of their branches, extraordinary size of their 

 boles, history, or great age, claim admiration. The venerable 

 remains of trees many centuries old are magnificent even in 

 ruins ; and, where they exist, should be religiously preserved. 



The generality of forest trees, when placed in their natural 

 situations, and allowed to show their natural forms, are all 

 more or less ornamental ; and though they take no decided 

 character, individuals of any kind may occasionally be adven- 

 titiously characteristic. Almost all old pollard trees are pic- 

 turesque ; young oaks, firs, or elms may be beautiful ; but none 

 can be magnificent without great age or magnitude. 



The plants of strongly marked character which I have before 

 alluded to, as proper for the foreground of general scenery 

 or for particular views, are such as follow : — The tree mal- 

 low (Lavatera arborea) ; palma-christi (jRicinus commiinis) ; 

 Nepal rhubarb (i^heum australis) ; hollyhock (^Ithae'a rosea) ; 

 jEryngium planum; Acanthus lusitanicus; Helianthus altissi- 

 mus ; some of the strongest-growing hardy firs ; and any other 

 large-leaved plants xzihich are in cultivation. 



These gigantic herbs must be out of the reach of cattle. 

 Their strong lines and distinct forms are indispensable in the 

 painted landscape, for reasons before mentioned. They are, 

 however, less necessary in real scenery, because the spectator 

 can ascertain distance by other means than by the mere dimi- 

 nution of objects. 



Exotic scenery may be expressed or represented in garden- 

 ing, where local or other circumstances are favourable. Italian 

 may consist of suitable structures, trellises, &c., furnished with 

 vines, portable orange, lemon, pomegranate, olive, and myrtle 

 trees. A Chinese conservatory, filled and surrounded with 

 Chinese plants, may be easily and very naturally executed. A 

 glazed mosque, pyramid, or pagoda, containing palms, &c., 

 within, and ornamented without with tropical plants, &c., 

 might give a pretty good idea of the scenery of the torrid zone. 

 To design such things, only requires a little knowledge of the 

 botanist and the traveller. 



