516 General Results of a Gardeniiig Tour: — 



The direction of the boundary lines of plantations made on 

 the sides of hills is of great importance, in respect to the 

 effect of these plantations when seen from below. There is 

 a character of greatness as well as of littleness, even in lines, 

 though it would be difficult, in a few words, to describe in 

 what that character consists. Lines which express gran- 

 deur are always simple; graceful lines are always varied. In 

 order to produce a harmonious whole, the lines of a plantation 

 should, in general, bear some relation to the lines formed by 

 the surface of the ground on which it is placed. We say 

 in general ; because there may be surfaces, the natural lines 

 of which it may be desirable to counteract by those of plant- 

 ations ; for example, the outlines of lumpish forms of surface, 

 or dead flats. Straight lines, or lines gently curved, are more 

 suitable for a flat country, than for the sides of hills ; an un- 

 dulating country should obviously have more undulating lines 

 than straight lines ; and a rough abrupt country more an- 

 gular lines than curvilinear ones. Every one must feel that 

 on the undulating sides of a hill, curved lines are more in 

 concord than straight lines ; and that varied curves are more 

 graceful than unvaried ones. In some of the most extensive 

 plantations on the hills and mountains of Cumberland and 

 Westmoreland, as well as on those of Dumfriesshire and 

 Kirkcudbrightshire, an artist's eye will detect deviations from 

 the above principle, which the planter of taste should mark, 

 in order to avoid. However, we are too well satisfied to 

 see plantations carried on extensively in any way in these 

 districts, to be very fastidious about the details ; and, there- 

 fore, having made the foregoing remarks, more with a view 

 to the future than to the past, we shall pass on to our third 

 defect, neglect of thinning and fencing. 



Whether a man prepares the soil properly previously to 

 planting, encloses sufficiently, and prunes and thins ade- 

 quately afterwards, is of much less consequence to the public 

 than it is to himself. A plantation may be admirably adapted 

 to the situation in which it is placed ; may be planted with 

 the proper sorts of trees ; and may, in its young state at least, 

 be every thing that can be wished in regard to the improve- 

 ment of the landscape, and yet afford little or no profit to 

 the proprietor. With the profit, indeed, the public may be 

 said to have very little to do : all that they are fairly entitled 

 to criticise is the general effect ; and for that, and for that 

 alone, neglected plantations are (all other circumstances 

 being equal) for the first fifteen or twenty years of their 

 growth, as good as well-managed ones. So much ground 

 has been planted in the west of Scotland within the last 

 thirty years, that there is not the least danger of a scarcity of 



