PARK TIMBER 



251 



are planted in regular figures and at set distances, and all 

 minor growth, such as long grass, brambles, briers, etc., care- 

 fully removed, and the trees pruned from time to time to give 

 them a regular shape. Near the mansion house, perhaps, a 

 certain amount of tidiness is appropriate and looked for, but 

 the greater part of a park of any size should be kept in as 

 natural a condition as possible, consistent with the ideas of 

 modern civilisation. 



On broken ground or marshy bottoms it is useless, of 

 course, to aim at trimness ; and here nothing should be done 

 to interfere in any way with the natural condition of the 

 surface, unless it be to plant it with trees which will be 

 appropriate to the surroundings. Willows and alders will 

 grow in such places if nothing else will, and a few clumps or 

 scattered groups of these will give all the variety that is 

 needed. On the drier or flatter parts deer or cattle will 

 usually do all that is needful in the way of keeping down 

 rubbish, unless it be thistles and nettles, and these of course 

 should be kept in check as much as possible. But thorns, 

 both black and white, crabs, hazels, and such-like low forms 

 of growth, should rather be encouraged than otherwise, for 

 they give more variety in height and shape, and do more to 

 break the browsing line here and there than ordinary forest 

 trees. Lawns in front of the windows of the mansion house 

 should be kept as clean and tidy as may be done without 

 undue labour, but, when once a proper turf is formed, 

 constant grazing will usually do the rest. 



The species suitable for park planting include all the 

 ordinary deciduous forest trees, and a few conifers. Orna- 

 mental trees, such as evergreens, symmetrical conifers, and 

 such-like, should, in our opinion, be excluded. Oak, ash, elm, 

 beech, birch, chestnut, lime, sycamore, plane, maple, with a 

 few Scots firs or larch in suitable spots, should form the bulk 

 of the trees represented, with willows, alders, and poplars in 

 wet places. Thorns are, of course, a standing constituent of 

 park vegetation, and these, and English maples, are particu- 

 larly suitable where great height is not desirable. In the 

 early stages of park -planting, quick-growing trees may 

 be introduced for rapid and temporary effect, such as black 

 Italian poplars, abeles, aspen, and so on, and a few of these 



