152 Suggestions Jvr the Improvement 



15. No new tree ought to be placed nearei* to any other tree, 

 either existing or to be planted, than 20 ft. ; even in places, 

 where it is intended to produce a mass,, either for its own sake, 

 or for concealing a boundary fence or other object. Trees, 

 whether of the small kind, such as thorns and laburnums ; or 

 forest trees, such as oaks and cedars; will, in the climate of Ken- 

 sington Gardens, when planted in pits prepared as above directed, 

 grow so rapidly, that, even when planted 20 ft. asunder, their 

 branches will meet in from seven to ten years. An exception 

 to the above rule, of never planting nearer than 20 ft., is, when 

 picturesque groups are to be formed ; in which case two trees of 

 different kinds may be placed in the same hole, or within 2 ft. or 

 3 ft. of each other; and sometimes with a third tree, or with 

 a strong-growing shrub or shrub-like tree ; as with a holly, 

 thorn, box tree, yew, &c. In cases of this kind, the pits should 

 be made proportionately large, and the general shape may re- 

 quire to be vai'ied accordingly. 



16. Where belts or masses are to be planted, low-growing 

 trees, such as thorns, hollies, ilexes, &c,, ought to be inter- 

 spersed among lofty-growing trees; in consequence of which, 

 little or no thinning will become necessary at any future period, 

 unless it should be desired to turn a wood into an open grove. 



1 7. In fixing on the situations for single plants and scattered 

 groups of young trees, care must be taken not to destroy what 

 is technically called " breadth " of surface, by distributing the 

 trees equally over the ground, as is done in the Regent's Park. 

 All the trees planted must be thrown into constellations, or 

 groups ; for even the masses, considered relatively to the whole, 

 are only to be looked upon as groups of a larger size. Some 

 attention must, also, be paid to the native localities and the habit 

 of growth of different trees : for example, a cedar of Lebanon 

 should be planted in an open rather elevated situation, where it 

 will have room to extend its branches on every side from the 

 ground upwards. Trees with graceful drooping branches ought 

 also to be placed where they will exhibit their characteristic 

 features; and such trees as the Quercus palustris, the most 

 graceful of all oaks, whether European or American, and of 

 which there are abundance of young plants for sale from 10 ft. to 

 15 ft. in height in Loddiges's Nursery, ought not only to have 

 room to display their beauty, but to be placed in situations 

 where the soil is rather moist than dry. 



18. If all the preceding directions were properly attended to, 

 and trees of not less than five or six years' growth selected for 

 planting, except in the case of those of the pine and fir tribe, 

 and some sorts of oak, their growth would be such, that, in ten 

 years from the time of planting, they would be from 30 ft. to 

 40 ft. high. If any of our readers should doubt this, we refer 



