Botanical Specimeiis from Nature. 



403 



disposition of the branches of all young trees, from their tendency 

 upwards, and perhaps still more from their being so fully clothed 

 with leaves. Old trees, on the other hand, have generally a ma- 

 jority of their branches in horizontal or very oblique directions, 

 and they are never so fully covered with leaves and spray as is 

 the case with young trees. As a result of what we have stated, 

 the general forms of young trees present a certain degree of 

 sameness ; while in old trees of distinct species there is generally 

 a very distinctive character in the general form, in the trunk, the 

 ramification, the tufting, and the touch. Any one may be con- 

 vinced of this by observing any particular species, not of very 

 common occurrence, in the arboretum of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's garden, or in that of Messrs. Loddiges, and observing 

 the same tree of fifty or sixty years of age, at Syon, Purser's 

 Cross, Chiswick, Upton, or any of the places noted for old 

 American trees in the neighbourhood of London. At the same 

 time, while we state this, we must remark that there is still a 

 very great difference in the general form, expression, and cha- 

 racter of even young trees which have been no more than ten 

 years planted. In proof of this, we again refer to the two me- 

 tropolitan arboretums, and to the 300 or 350 engravings of 

 entire trees which will be given in our Arboretum Britannicum. 

 We may particularly refer both to the living specimens and to 

 the engravings of the smallest class of trees, such as the thorns, 

 and other i^osacese ; which, even in ten years' growth, are re- 

 markably distinct and characteristic, and supply the landscape- 

 gardener with admirable resources for planting small places, as 

 will hereafter appear. We shall give engravings of above 40 

 distinct kinds of thorns, every one of which will be found to 

 have a remarkably distinct character of picturesque beauty in- 

 dependent of its botanical distinctness. 



To recur to the subject of the touch, we shall here quote from 

 the Magazine of Natural History, vol. i. p. 244., what Mr. Strutt 



has said on the subject of the touch of the oak, and illustrate it by 

 two engravings from his sketches. " The foliage of the oak," 



G G 2 



