12 THE SAD PLIGHT OP BRITISH PORESTEY 



tions of form and colour, light and shade. To an 

 artist it may furnish more subjects than a well-ordered 

 forest; but then an artist will prefer a weedy, poorly 

 cultivated wheat-field for his foreground to a heavy 

 level crop. That does not save the poor, dirty crop 

 from being a reproach to all concerned in growing 

 it. The artist is best pleased with straggling, irregular 

 woodland; but it does not require a merely commercial 

 intellect to be conscious of the peculiar beauty of well- 

 managed forest. The eye rejoices in the vigour and 

 symmetry of the trees ; the imagination is stirred by the 

 long vistas of shade and mystery; the mind is gratified 

 by the evidence of applied knowledge and skill ; all three 

 derive pleasure from the evidence of human presence and 

 energy in the regular and beautiful operations of forestry. 

 Here and there the rein may be given to the purely 

 picturesque. Round the mansion-house, by the river, 

 or in the park proper are the right places for trees to 

 develop their characteristic forms unhampered by others, 

 to assume venerable proportions, and to linger out long 

 ages of decay and grotesque distortion. Such are the 

 proper places for arboriculture as distinct from forestry. 

 It would be very far to misjudge my purpose if this were 

 read as intended to interfere with English park scenery. 

 My contention is that the right management of woodland 

 is something quite distinct from landscape gardening 

 and conscious eifort at effect. Beautiful effects are in- 

 evitable in all places where trees abound, no matter how 

 they are grown. Advantage may be taken of the presence 

 of woods to form the middle distance or horizon in park 

 scenery; they will serve that decorative purpose every 

 whit as well if, instead of being wastefully and wrongfully 



