THE planter's guide. 



113 



plants and all soils at once, and renders all judgment in 

 treating them superfluous. 



But however such a method may succeed in producing 

 mixed effects in plantations, it cannot be admitted for 

 wood in the lawn or park, in which the prominent effects 

 are to result from small groups or individual trees, and 

 where, on that account, every single failure tells and 

 appears conspicuous. No man who knows any thing of 

 wood will put down the Sycamore, the Lime, or the Wild 

 Cherry, for example, on a clayey soil ; neither will he put 

 the Oak or the Elm on light sand or gravel, but, on the 

 contrary, on the deepest and loamiest land he can find, 

 and in the case of the Oak, even with a clay bottom : for 

 although that tree, in particular, is the most accommoda- 

 ting of all plants, it is only on land of this sort that it 

 will really thrive and grow to timber. But by the skilful 

 planter the subsoil is often regarded as of more moment 

 than the mere texture of the surface, as the degrees of 

 moisture most suitable to woody plants form perhaps the 

 most prominent features in their characteristic differences. 

 It is therefore of the utmost importance to the planter 

 carefully to study these distinctions. In certain situ- 

 ations, where he might be anxious for the grand effect of 

 the Oak or the Chestnut, it will often be prudent for him 

 to be content with the inferior forms of the Lime or the 

 Beech. 



It is a maxim of good sense as well as good taste, of 

 which every man conversant with wood is not suflSciently 

 aware, namely, that those trees about a place will always 

 looh the handsomest that thrive the best, and that no 

 peculiarity of ramification, nor delicacy of foliage, can ever 

 compensate for a deficiency of luxuriance and fuU health. 

 A rage for exotics, for plants with new names, or of 

 more delicate habits than the soil and climate will pro- 



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