THE PLAKTER's GUIDE. 



223 



tall and stemmy, while the accessories are low and spread- 

 ing ; and, in a word, in so blending the whole as to attain 

 at once gracefulness and variety. 



The two plants first put into the ground should be set 

 somewhat deeper than the others, and nearly upright. 

 The two or three next should have their roots crossed 

 over to the opposite sides of the pit in which they are 

 planted, so as to give them such an inclination outwards 

 as if they naturally sprang, in opposite directions, from 

 one centre or stem, which had been headed down. This, 

 if skillfully executed, will in a surprising degree promote 

 verisimilitude. And in order to give the last finish to 

 the group, small plants may here and there be set in, or 

 redundant branches pruned away, that unnaturally cross 

 or destroy the leading character of the ramification. But 

 as the business of composing copse is to make a practical 

 use of nature's own colours, it is as impossible minutely 

 to direct the work as to direct the painter who copies 

 her in giving the minutest touches of his pencil. One 

 rule more I may in a general way suggest, and that is, 

 never to overload the groups — never copying nature in 

 her richer masses, but rather in her more simple combi- 

 nations of foliage. In this, as in all other departments, 

 in which art is called in to the aid of nature, those effbrts 

 will always seem the happiest, and please the longest, 

 where ornament is kept down, and where it is made sub- 

 servient to the severer graces of composition. 



In this, and the foregoing two sections, I have now 

 given as clear an account as I could of the Peeparing, 

 Taking-up, Transporting, and Planting of large trees 



