242 Gilpin's FOREST scENEEY. 



themselves, are ill-sliaped, but, when combined, 

 are pleasing. Inequalities of all these kinds are 

 what chiefly give Nature's planting a superiority- 

 over art. 



The form of the foliage is another source of 

 contrast. In one part, where the branches inter- 

 mingle, the foliage will be interwoven and close ; 

 in another, where the boughs of each tree hang 

 separately, the appearance will be light and easy. 



But whatever beauty these contrasts exhibit, 

 the effect is totally lost unless the group be luell- 

 halanced. This is as necessary in a combination 

 of trees as in a single tree.* The clump is con- 

 sidered as one object, and the support of the 

 whole must depend on the several trunks and 

 leading branches of which it is composed. We 

 do not expect the minutise of scale and weight ; if 

 no side preponderate so as to hurt the eye it is 

 enough. Unless, however, the grouj) have suf- 

 fered some external injury it is seldom deficient 

 in point of balance. Nature always conducts the 

 stems and branches in such easy forms, wherever 



* See page 12. 



