196 



SCIENCE OF THE STUDY OF TREES. 



PART II. 



other ramose-headed trees, the length of naked trunk bears a much less pro- 

 portion to the head. Shrubs are distinguished from trees, not only pictorially, 

 but also botanically, b}' having no distinct trunk, or naked stem, but, whether 

 large or small, forming one entire bush. 



The trunks of trees may farther be considered with reference to the manner 

 in which they rise out of the soil, and to the manner in which the head of the 

 tree is supported by them. Trees which grow in thick woods, where the 

 annual crop of leaves falls down, and rots into mould, have their trunks 

 apparently vathout bases ; but trees which stand in open situations, where the 

 faUing leaves are blown away, always rise out of the ground with a conspicuous 

 base, formed by the junction of the trunk with the roots. No circumstance 

 adds more to the effect of a tree, as a stately and durable object in a landscape, 

 than the appearance of its trunk rising from a secure and widely spreading base ; 

 and this appearance is one which may be imitated by art, both" in drawing land- 

 scapes, and in landscape-gardening, and whether the trees to be introduced 

 are young or old. 



The perpendicularity or inclination of the trunks of trees arc circumstances 

 well deserving the study of the artist. Wherever trees have grown up for- 

 tuitously in groups or masses, the trunks of many of them will be found more 

 or less inclined to the horizon ; and their heads will often appear ill balanced 

 when taken singly, though in combination such trees make the most varied 

 groups. Trees which have been planted singly, and exposed alike on every 

 side, grow up with erect trunks, and form the "most stately and well-balanced 

 heads. Such trees always have the appearance of having been planted by art ; 

 while the others seem to convey the idea of their having been subjected to the 

 operation of natural causes. Trees of the first kind may be called gardenesque 

 trees, and of the latter, picturesque trees. Trees which grow out of rocks, or 

 on precipices, or on the banks of v/ater, almost always have their trunks in- 

 clined to the horizon ; as trees on level surfaces, other circumstances being 

 the same, have their trunks at right angles to the horizon. 



Though shrubs ai-e without trunks, yet the same general remai'ks will apply 

 to them. A detached shrub, on a level surface, is clothed to the ground on 

 every side; a shrub which has grown up among other shrubs or trees, or which 

 stands on a slope or hangs over water, will be'inclined to one side. Shrubs, 

 however, admit of much less variety in point of attitude than trees. 



The branches of trees difler in many particulars. The frondosc branches of 

 the pine and fir tribe never, except under accidental circumstances, attain 

 any great size ; on the other hand, the ramose branches of the oak, the chest- 

 nut, &c., frequently attain a size which rivals that of the trunk. The branches 

 of some kinds of trees proceed regularly from the stem, in some definite and 

 obvious order of succession ; others proceed from the stem apparently in an 

 irregular manner. Some extend a great length horizontally, or at right angles 

 to the stem ; and others a great length acutely, or obHquely to it. The heads 

 of some trees, as the cedar of Lebanon, in a detached situation, seem to con- 

 sist entirely of spreading branches; of others, such as the pinaster, of a few 

 branches at the upper extremity of the trunk. The ramifications of the 

 branches are as various as their mode of insertion in the trunk : some are quite 

 regular, as in the fir tribe ; and others are exceedingly various and intricate, as 

 in the oak. The branches of some trees have few branchlets, as in most of the 

 poplars ; others have many branchlets, as in the oak, the beech, the birch, &c. 

 The same observations will apply to shrubs, but not in the same degree. In 

 the case of shrubs, numerous stems arise from the root ; and these'stems, in 

 many cases, produce only branchlets and spray, and, in others, only leaves. In 

 some shrubs, as in the common laurel, the branches trail on the ground; in 

 others, as in the berberry and the lilac, they are numerous and erect. Certain 

 shrubs have stems which twine round, or are otherwise supported by, trees or 

 other objects; such as the ivy, the clematis, &c. ; and others rise up_, and fall 

 down, as in the case ol" the common bramble. Some shrubs are, in their details, 

 like a collection of miniature trees; as, for example, the butcher's broom. In 



