7 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 



Planting trees for the sake of adorning a house, a garden, or an estate is an art 

 -which is deservedly on the increase in the Island. Addison, in the Spectator 

 .says : " There is, indeed, something truly magnificent in this kind of amusement. 

 It gives a nobler air to several parts of nature ; it fills the earth with a variety of 

 beautiful scenes, and has something in it like creation. For this reason the 

 pleasure of one who plants is something like that of a poet, who, as Aristotle ob- 

 serves is more delighted with his productions than any other writer or artist 

 whatsoever. Plantations have one advantage in them which is not to be found 

 in most other works, as they give a pleasure of a more lasting date, aud contin- 

 ually improve in the eye of the planter. When you have finished a building, or any 

 other undertaking of the like nature, it immediately begins to decay on your hands ; 

 you see it brought to the utmost point of perfection and from that time hastening 

 to its ruin. On the contrary when you have finished your plantations, they are 

 still arriving at greater degrees of perfection, as long as you live, and appear m >to 

 delightful in each succeeding year than they did in the foregoing." 



Clumps of trees should be so planted that the larger trees are in the back- 

 ground, \*hile smaller trees with flowers or coloured foliage are in front. They 

 should be dotted about the grounds, giving effective variation in colouring, and 

 in lighi and shade. Careful grouping is requisite near the house, which should 

 be shut off from sight from some points of view, and from other places set as in a 

 frame with trees and a bright flower garden in front. But if trees are planted 

 too near a house, they produce dampness, shutting out sun and air, and the roots 

 undermine the buildings. But while the trees should be so grouped that from 

 various spots all round they appear to set off the dwelling and enhance its beauty 

 so also the position of the clump? must be arranged, taking the house itself as the 

 centre, so as to form foregrounds or middle distances to the views, or to provide 

 a shelter against prevailing winds, or shade protecting from the afternoon sun. 



If an avenue is to be formed, it should be made all of one kind of tree, and 

 they should be planted at regular intervals. An avenue should move in a gentle 

 curve from the entrance gate with clumps hiding the house, until it bursts upon 

 the view at close quarters. 



WOODS. 



Woods are as a rule naturally composed of several different species of trees, 

 when they are called ** mixed" woods, though it sometime happens that the soil 

 and climate are so suitable to one particuiar species that it grows to the exclusion 

 of others, when such woods are called " pure" woods. 



Both kinds are formed by foresters according to circumstances. The hills of 

 Hong Kong for instance are planted with a single species of pine tree, Pinus sinen- 

 sis, Lamb. 



The chief reason for planting pure woods, is that they are easier to manage, as 

 only the requirements of a single species have to be considered by the forester. 



But it is not all trees that are suitable for this purpose, and as a rule only such 

 are chosen as possess dense crowns, shading and preserving the soil, and increas- 

 ing its fertility by the humus formed by the decaying leaves. In Europe the 

 Beech is considered to improve the soil in the highest degree, for beech wood pro- 

 duce a thicker layer of humus than woods of other ppecies. Such species are 

 called " ruling" species as distinguished from " dependent" species. But there 

 are many trees which do not possess a dense leaf canopy, and are yet capable 

 of preserving the fertility of the soil for some time, because under their half- 

 shade, mosses grow which protect the soil quite as well as a thick layer of leaves. 



There are many localities in which the soil will not suffer through imperfect 

 cover, namely if it is deep, and kept moist by rainfall or ground water ; and some- 

 times it is even advantageous to have an imperfect cover, viz. in marshy spots. 

 If the trees are to be cut early, a pure wood sufficiently covers the ground as the 

 crowns are lower, and the crop is denser. 



In mixed woods, that are planted, there may be a mixture by groups, where a 

 group of one species alternates with a group of another species ; or there may be 

 a mixture by single trees when each tree of one species alternates with a tree of 

 another species. 



The mixture may also be permanent, or for a time only, when for instance it is 

 necessary to protect a tender species against drought by a hardy and fast growing 

 species. 



