122 



THE PLANTEK's GUIDE. 



SO extremely yaliiable, as well as to abridge the range of 

 the planter's operations. As the protecting properties, 

 therefore, must of course be more rare in all woodlands 

 than the non-protecting, one of the most dif&cult tasks 

 which the planter has to perform is judiciously to husband 

 the application of the former. He should always bear 

 in mind that, if he put down but one tree in any given 

 spot, in that tree the protecting properties should exist 

 in a greater degree than if he put down ten trees, and 

 still more than if twenty were put down. Even by 

 means of the loosest dispositions and the most scattered 

 groups of wood on an open surface, the force of the 

 wind is sensibly broken, and hindered from exerting its 

 entire violence on any individual tree. In creating 

 real landscape, climate is not always to be regarded 

 absolutely, but relatively. Absolute elevation may be con- 

 siderable, but relative mildness in the climate of a place 

 may be as great, from the number and richness of its 

 woody accompaniments. Hence poverty of clothing on the 

 surface of a park, if we can command the subjects, 

 should always be avoided ; for that is as inconsistent 

 with the richness of the picture as with the health and 

 success of the trees of which it is composed. 



As the modifying of the effect of heat and cold on 

 woods, and especially on parks and pleasure-grounds, is 

 a subject not generally understood, it may be worth 

 while in this place to say a few words respecting it, 

 and also respecting the principles on which it is 

 founded, as being connected with the subject immedi- 

 ately under discussion. Air in several respects resem- 

 bles, and is governed by the same laws as another 

 element, namely, water, although the effects of the 

 former are less cognisable by the eye. If you erect 

 powerful abutments on the banks of a river, you may 



