200 Leafing of Oak Trees, 



best of our German gardens, the number of which is yet too 

 small, is what I scarcely need to mention ; for our Germany has 

 also an abundance of abortions in what, either here or in Eng- 

 land, may be called " symmetrical order made gardens." 



Simplicity without monotony, and richness without superfluity, 

 indicate the genuine German garden style ; and thus give the 

 German garden a place between the old and the new English. 

 Another and yet more essential distinction is found in the ap- 

 propriate distribution of the several kinds of trees and shrubs, 

 particularly in respect to the colour of their foliage, the structure 

 of their leaves, their size, and the form of their growth. 



Had you, Sir, been here at any other period of the year 

 than the latter end of it ; had you, for instance, viewed our 

 gardens in the month of May or September, you would, I think, 

 have admired the manner in which they are planted ; the artistical 

 calculation exercised in the employment of colours, and forms, 

 and transitions, and contrasts ; and the judicious consideration, 

 everywhere visible, of the character of the trees, as to their 

 capability of producing a cheerful or a grave, a grand or a 

 mysterious, impression, according as the garden scene, the archi- 

 tectural subject, or any particular natural accident, might require 

 such character. Had you seen these in their full pei'fection, you 

 would, I think, have found a much greater peculiarity in the 

 formation of our gardens than you then observed. 



The essence of that peculiarity is, however, very difficult to 

 be pointed out to any one who has not seen an example of it. 

 Nevertheless, it is explained, as far as a subject can be explained 

 which depends so much upon the feelings of the artist, in the 

 Beytragen der bildenden Gartenkunst, von L. Friedr. von Sckell, 

 Miinchen, 1 823 ; a work which is well known to you. 



Munich, July, 1833. Sckell. 



Art. IV. Remarks on the Leafing of Oak Trees, and the Tints of the 

 early Foliage. By the Rev. W. T. Bree, A.M. 



The most inattentive observer can hardly fail to have remarked 

 that there is a very considerable difference (a difference, perhaps, 

 of not less than a month or six weeks) in the period at which 

 different individuals of the same species of oak (Quercus .Robur) 

 expand and shed their leaves : those, of course, which assume 

 their foliage earliest in the spring, losing it earliest in the 

 autumn ; and vice versa. Accordingly, it is very common to see 

 one oak tree in full verdure, while its next neighbour, only a few 

 yards distant in the same wood or hedgerow, is perfectly bare, 

 or, at most, with its buds only bursting. It is an equally obvious 



