as well as for Shelter and, Profit. 203 



stately trees, &c, which appear in quick succession to the view 

 throughout our cultivated districts, cannot but be felt and ad- 

 mired by all who have a taste for refinement ; and I think that, 

 in scenery of this description, our own country vies with any 

 other in the world. But, while nature has been thus profuse in 

 her gifts to some districts, by affording facilities for embellish- 

 ment, she has been less so in others. Hence we have also our 

 widely extended and barren heaths, with plains, so called, of 

 vast extent, furnishing scarcely a shrub, or tree, to attract 

 the notice of the inquisitive traveller, or to afford shelter or 

 shade to man or beast. These, half a century ago, when tra- 

 velling could not be so expeditiously effected as at the present, 

 must have acted, for many hours in succession, as a dead weight 

 on the minds of such as were the admirers of beautiful scenery. 

 In some districts, however, something has been done towards 

 removing this unvaried and dreary aspect by planting; which, 

 if prosecuted with the spirit that it deserves, will, in a few years, 

 add much beauty to those parts of our country which are at 

 present so dreary and uninteresting. From the extension of the 

 practice of planting, pecuniar}' advantages will also be derived, 

 by affording, not only shelter to the flocks and herds feeding on 

 the plains, but, also, by giving to the proprietors of such districts 

 a prospect of being ultimately remunerated with a good per- 

 centage for property expended in the planting. In the mean 

 time, it may be observed, that utility ought not to be taken solely 

 into the account, by those who feel inclined, and have the means 

 in their power, to enrich the more dreary parts of our country 

 with " living green." Sound judgment and good taste should 

 also be exercised, to combine embellishment with utility, and 

 then, in all such projected improvements, much of beauty would 

 be the result, as well as much of advantage. 



In travelling, a few weeks ago, through a part of Suffolk, 

 namely, between Newmarket and Thetford, I was particularly 

 struck with the singular appearance of a number of straight un- 

 connected belts of trees, of nearly equal width, planted in various 

 directions on the open lands in that district, some of which were 

 of great length ; the object of these, I found, was to afford 

 shelter to the stock grazing there. The principle, as such, I 

 admitted at once to be good ; I could not help, however, con- 

 demning the mode of carrying it into effect. Had these belts 

 been disposed of advantageously, in curves of unequal width, and 

 clumps been here and there introduced with judgment, much of 

 the picturesque might have been accomplished, with an equal 

 degree of utility ; and, instead of presenting such a stiff uni- 

 formity, with scarcely any apparent design, parklike appearances 

 might have been gained, which, to the eye of the tourist, would 

 have been interesting, particularly as a large portion of the road 



