147 



long as we enjoy the benefit of these mid- 

 dle degrees betwixt extremes of each, 

 let experiments of untried theoretical 

 improvement be made in some other 

 country. 



So far I have endeavoured to defend ciumps 

 Mr. Brown with respect to the general Beits. 

 principle of improvement. But it is ne- 

 cessary to enter something farther into 

 the detail of his practice of what has been 

 ludicrously called clumping and belting. 

 No man of taste can hesitate betwixt the 

 natural group of trees, composed of va- 

 rious growths, and those formal patches 

 of firs which too often disfigure a laAV'n, 

 under the name of clumps: but the most 

 certain method of producing a group of 

 five or six trees, is to plant fifty or sixty 

 within the same fence; and this Mr. Brown 

 frequently advised, with a mixture of firs, 

 to protect and shelter the young trees 

 during their infancy; unfortunately, the 

 neglect or bad taste of his employers 

 would occasionally suffer the firs to re- 

 main long after they had completed their 

 ollrtcc as nurses ; while others have ac- 



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