230 



Garden and Forest. 



[July ii 



however, that the discussion which this interest has 

 evoked will bring practical results to American farmers 

 until they learn the lesson, which experience alone can 

 teach, that much of their want of success in farming can 

 be traced to the use they have made of the natural 

 conditions with which they have found themselves 

 surrounded. 



The Artistic Aspect of Trees. II. — Texture. 



ONE thing to be considered when a tree is viewed from 

 the artistic standpoint is its form, which, as we have 

 explained, means its size, its contour, and the character of 

 its surface as determined by the number and disposition 

 of its branches and the consequent massing of its foliage. 

 Another thing to be considered is its texture. By this we 

 mean the character of its masses of foliage as determined 

 by the manner of growth of the lighter spray, and the pro- 

 fusion, shape, disposition and tissue of its leaves. We 

 know what differences of texture — of real or apparent 

 solidity and of surface effect — may be produced, for ex- 

 ample, by different methods of weaving silken threads — 

 resulting now in silk, now in gauze, now in satin and 

 again in velvet. Analogous differences nature produces 

 in the weaving of the leafy coverings of her trees ; and 

 they play almost a greater part in determining the effect 

 of these trees than even varieties of form. If, for ex- 

 ample, a Spruce and a White Pine were exactly the same 

 in contour and in the disposition of their foliage into 

 masses, the longer leaves of the Pine and their arrange- 

 ment in clusters instead of in rows would give it a wholly 

 different effect because a wholly dilferent texture, while 

 the feathery spray and leafage of a Hemlock would ap- 

 pear quite distinct from either. Even between trees of the 

 same genus, as between different species of Pine, very dif- 

 ferent textures are produced by variations in the length, 

 the rigidity and the number of their leaves. With decidu- 

 ous trees the case is the same. An infinite variety of tex- 

 ture is found even among species closely allied with one 

 another, and, when leafless, very similar in effect Leaves 

 may be large or small, numerous or comparatively few, 

 clustered or scattered, held erect or horizontally, or in a 

 drooping manner; they may have simple outlines, or be 

 conspicuously cut or toothed or lobed ; may be thick or thin, 

 stiff or pliant in tissue ; may be smooth or rough or shin- 

 ing of surface. A variation in any one characteristic greatly 

 alters the general aspect of the foliage, and as there are so 

 many characteristics which may be combined and recom- 

 bined afresh, it is not strange that Nature's weaving process 

 should result in innumerable varieties of texture. 



Upon these varieties depends the expression of a 

 tree, quite as much as upon varieties of form or varieties 

 of color, unless, indeed, color be so peculiar as to be no 

 longer green and form so eccentric as to be hardly nor- 

 mal — as in the case of fastigiate or weeping trees. A tree 

 is sturdy-looking or graceful chiefly by reason of its form ; 

 but such varieties in sturdiness as may be expressed by 

 the words severity, sombreness, majesty, picturesqueness, 

 and such varieties in grace as may be expressed by the 

 words fragility, weakness, delicacy, lightness — these 

 spring in very large part from the texture of its foliage. 

 Small leaves, and especially those which are small and 

 elongated or small and quivering, do more than light color 

 to give a tree the aspect of fragility and a feminine kind of 

 grace,- while large and simple leaves almost of themselves 

 imply a masculine air, and large, simple and thick-textured 

 leaves mean a certain majesty even in a plant so small 

 that it is considered a shrub. A small Magnolia, for exam- 

 ple, has more dignity tlian the largest Honey Locust. A 

 Catalpa is more masculine-looking than a Willow of even 

 the largest size ; and if we imagine the thin tissue of its 

 leaves exchanged for a thicker, stiffer tissue, we can easily 

 see how its dignity would be still further increased. Even 

 the difference in substance between the foliage of the 

 American and the European Beech — the latter being some- 



what stiffer and much glossier — makes a difference in the 

 expression of the two trees ; and there is a great contrast 

 in expression, despite much similarity in form and struc- 

 ture, between the White Oak, with its large, round-lobed, 

 dull-surfaced leaves, the Scarlet Oak, with its deeply cut 

 and glossy leaves, and the Willow Oak, with its very 

 small and simply outlined and still glossier leaves. A 

 uniform texture — caused by comparatively small leaves, 

 regularly and thickly distributed over the branches — gives 

 a tree a quiet, restful look, while a broken, spotted texture, 

 caused by sparse, scattered and conspicuously cut leaves 

 (as in the Sycamore), gives it an unquiet look. 



All such facts, the "commonplaces of the landscape 

 gardener," should be noted and appraised by every 

 one who aspires to merit the title of a lover of trees. There 

 are none richer in possibilities of pleasure to the cultivated 

 eye even if actual work in the way of planting is not in 

 question — for while forms vary much in trees and colors 

 vary much, textures vary more ; among smaller woody 

 plants individuality chiefly depends upon them ; and 

 while their variations may seem less striking than those 

 of form and color to the careless observer, they S(jon grow 

 to be equally conspicuous with the growth of the observing 

 and the appreciating faculties. 



When planting is in question, however, they are of 

 great importance. It is almost as bad to group trees inhar- 

 moniously with regard to their textures as with regard to 

 their forms. Any artist would know that trees which are 

 quiet and restful in effect may be used in larger masses, 

 and will less conspicuously affect the appearance of their 

 neighbors than those which are spotted and restless of 

 aspect. He would know, too, that it is better to relieve a light 

 and feathery tree against a group of more solid foliage than 

 to reverse the terms of the combination. He would know 

 that the massive, uniform surfaces which make a good 

 background are less pleasing in an isolated specimen stand- 

 ing near the eye. He would know that the great, gloss}', 

 leathery leaves of the Evergreen Magnolia are just what is 

 wanted in one spot, just what is not wanted in another, 

 and that while the trembling leaves of the Aspen, or the 

 drooping, fringe-like texture of the Cut-leaved Birch, unfit 

 it for many positions, they make it especially valuable for 

 others. He would know that with every change of posi- 

 tion and environment comes a change in the effect of the 

 texture of a tree — that while one sort will look well in full 

 sunlight, another will look better in a shadowed spot, 

 another overhanging a stream, another set close against 

 the walls of a house. An artist feels all this in advance if 

 his profession be landscape gardening ; and he feels it at 

 least in intelligent appreciation of existing results if it be 

 some other branch of art, for it is ever}^ artist's habit to ap- 

 praise all he sees for the three properties of form and 

 texture and color. But how few amateur planters feel 

 it in advance ; how few lovers of trees judge their own 

 or their neighbors' places with such tests in mind 1 Even 

 when questions of form and of color are somewhat re- 

 garded, questions of texture very seldom are. Yet a culti- 

 vated eye is as much distressed by seeing a rigid-looking 

 Pine or a solid Sugar Maple where a feathery Hemlock or 

 a delicate Honey Locust might better stand, as by seeing 

 a Purple Beech where harmony calls for a green one, or a 

 lofty Hickory where good composition demands a low 

 and spreading Dogwood. 



The trees in the Central Park, in this city, have not looked 

 as well as they do just now for a number of years. The 

 cool, late spring, the abundant rains of May and the heat 

 of the early summer have all been favorable to a vigorous 

 and healthy tree-growth. Most of the trees, with the ex- 

 ception of the half-dead Norway Spruces, which are covered 

 with red spiders, are unusually free of insect pests. The 

 American Elms have made a remarkable growth, and when 

 planted under favorable conditions, are now objects of 

 great beauty. The American and European Lindens are 



