262 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



birch, and the plane, are well adapted for forming shapely 

 single trees at a comparatively youthful age, and may be 

 largely employed ; but probably English elm and lime form 

 the most attractive trees of all of them, and are more often 

 planted in the vicinity of the mansion house than any. The 

 English elm, whether seen in summer or winter, always 

 forms a picturesque and handsome tree. Its rich masses of 

 foliage, which never become dingy or faded in the hottest 

 season, and its tufty habit of growth, which is full of shady 

 recesses on the brightest day, cannot be excelled by any 

 other species, while its ability to grow on almost any soil 

 invests it with a value for park-planting which should not be 

 lost sight of. 



A special feature of park timber, which should never be 

 mutilated or destroyed, is that represented by double trees, or 

 two trees springing from the same space. Such trees, what- 

 ever the species may be, form and mature a single crown, and 

 to remove one of these trees with the idea of aiding the de- 

 velopment of the survivor is to practically destroy all that 

 is interesting. It often happens, too, that thorns are found 

 growing from the roots of an old oak or ash, and form 

 picturesque combinations which should be preserved and 

 encouraged as much as possible. In fact, all forms of what 

 may be termed combined growth should be encouraged in 

 park timber, and all approach to artificial formality or the 

 monotony of perfectly shaped trees, when repeated too fre- 

 quently, should be avoided if possible. The park, within 

 reasonable limits, should be given over to nature in her 

 best and most attractive garb, and nothing can be termed 

 inappropriate which is not absolutely ugly, or foreign to the 

 characteristic type of scenery. 



Avenues. 



The antiquity of avenues is much greater than many 

 suppose, although they may not always have been constructed 

 of trees. The remains of stone avenues found in many of 

 our prehistoric temples, such as those at Avebury, Stonehenge, 

 etc., doubtless owed their construction to the same idea which 



