THE planter's GUIDE. 



281 



ance to the lianging grounds and banks of the place ; 

 which style of wood would be, perhaps, more characteristic 

 and pleasing to some persons than if taller trees had 

 been used by him in planting it. It is true that trees of a 

 certain height, saj from thirty to five-and-thirty feet and 

 upwards, have a fine effect in catching the horizon from a 

 sloping bank, and showing tne scenery of the foreground, 

 and possibly of the middle distance, under their spreading 

 branches ; also, they are peculiarly useful in masking or 

 relieving such objects, on the opposite side of a river, as 

 we cannot command, and which, for that reason, it is desir- 

 able to throw into the back-ground of the picture. But 

 on such subjects, as on most others connected with taste 

 in the disposition of wood, great diversity of opinion must 

 prevail; and that mode of arrangement or execution will 

 generally seem the handsomest in which the genius of the 

 place is best consulted, and where the most luxuriant 

 growths and most careless dispositions of wood are pro- 

 duced. The greatest triumphs of art must always be 

 those in which, in rivalling nature, she most completely 

 efi'ects her own concealment. 



There is at Abbotsford a new, as well as ingenious 

 contrivance for defending underwood from the mouths of 

 sheep, which, as it is so difficult at all times, and in this 

 instance seems peculiar to Sir Walter himself, it may be 

 worth while to mention. "Being in haste," says he, 

 " with the bushes set out on the sheep -ground, and really 

 very indifferent whether they all grew or not, I had many 

 of them stuck into the middle of whin bushes, and there 

 the sheep have done them no visible harm.'' Of the 

 good effect of furze in adding wildness and variety to 

 scenery, no one will entertain a doubt ; and those who 

 have it in abundance in their parks may verify the 

 efficiency of Sir Walter's method. As to the expense of 



