504: PAEKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



scientific and the popular elements. Such collections 

 of trees and shrubs are extremely interesting to the^ 

 botanist, as presenting to his outward eye, in material 

 and living presence, the various forms which in their 

 more refined relations enter into his abstract and re- 

 condite arrangements ; but they also possess much 

 interest to the general student of nature, exhibiting, as 

 they do, the number and diverse characters of the 

 trees and underwood which tenant the mighty forests, 

 the tangled brakes, the stunted scrubs, and barren 

 heaths, that cover the valleys, plains, and mountains 

 of the colder regions of the globe. 



Arboretums are only of recent introduction as deco- 

 rative accompaniments to country residences and pub- 

 lic gardens. For a long period, indeed,-a considerable 

 variety of trees and shrubs have been cultivated in 

 parks and pleasure-grounds ; and flowering shrubs, in 

 particular, have always been favorite materials of or- 

 nament in flower-gardens. But scientific classifications 

 of these forms of vegetable life received little attention 

 previous to the formation, in 1823, of the arboretum 

 in the garden belonging, to the London Horticultural 

 Society, at Turnham Green. Since that great and 

 meritorious collection attracted the notice which was 

 due to it, many similar, though generally less exten- 

 sive, arboretums have been formed ; so that now no 

 moderate sized country residence or public park and 

 garden can be considered complete unless something 

 of the kind enters into their arrangements. TJndoubt 

 edly the finest arboretum now in existence, at least so 

 far as we are aware, is that in the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew, though even there the limitation of the space to 

 which it is restricted leaves some reasons for regret. 



