PARK TIMBER 263 



is responsible for the avenue planted in front of the modern 

 mansion to-day, that is, to add to the dignity of the object 

 at the end of it. Possibly it was suggested, as were so many 

 of our architectural features, by the groves associated with 

 the Druidical religion. In either case, the columns of wood 

 or stone had much the same effect, and the chief modification 

 which ensued was the widening of the distance between the 

 rows, according to the tastes or ideas of the designers. 



Coming to comparatively modern times, however, avenues 

 may be considered as introductions from the Continent, as the 

 name, derived from the French ih vernie, indicates. Formed 

 in the first place by cutting long vistas through the forest 

 which surrounded the chateau of a French magnate, they lent 

 themselves naturally as a feature of the formal style of land- 

 scape gardening which was introduced into England in the 

 seventeenth century. In some cases, like the long walk at 

 Windsor, they ran in two parallel lines into the adjoining 

 park; in others they consisted of rows of isolated clumps 

 which extended beyond the private grounds into the open 

 country, as at Badminton. Another form, which corresponded 

 more closely to the original pattern, is the long glade or 

 vista running through masses of wood, as at Savernake, 

 Cirencester, etc. 



In the first of these cases the lines usually consist of two 

 rows of trees standing closely together, so that a walk runs 

 between their stems, and beneath their interlacing boughs. 

 In these days, probably, such avenues alone deserve the 

 name, " glade " or " vista " being a more appropriate term 

 for the other two, and, as such, we may leave them. But 

 the first named, from its frequency, and its fine effect when 

 judiciously planted and properly matured, deserves a little 

 attention. 



The chief features of such avenues are their length, 

 width between the inner rows, and species of tree which 

 compose them. The length of an avenue must depend to 

 a certain extent upon circumstances. When, for instance, 

 an avenue leads from a mansion house to a lodge, obelisk, 

 statue, etc., there is no alternative but to continue it 

 throughout the intervening space, or leave it out of the 

 scene altogether. The question of planting avenues, there- 



