PARK AND VILLA SCENERY, 
107 
We are delighted to meet with a written authority which confirms and amplifies 
what we saw and passed through, several years after the description referred to was 
penned by the late Mr. Loudon. Then — that is, at the former period — many of the 
subjects, though rich and thriving, were small ; but in 1844 a fulness of growth had 
been attained, which demonstrated the skill and judgment of the designer. 
He had been assisted, doubtless, by a landscape gardener of great judgment, but 
the proprietor himself was the actuating mainspring ; for, of the more than a million 
trees thus presenting themselves in detail to notice, all in symmetrical beauty and 
in natural position, every one had been planted by him, under his own supervision, 
with the exception of a very few lordly oaks, elms, &c, seniors, whose ages far sur- 
passed those of any one now living on the demesne. 
By trees planted in the order above described, so as to develop all their indi- 
vidual beauties, the utmost effect is produced, and this is also increased by judicious 
pruning, particularly as affects the fir tribes. These trees are in general far too 
thickly planted, whence they draw each other up, and by the lashing and crossing 
of the branches, every appearance of figure or proportion is speedily destroyed. 
When firs or pines are planted, as here, at proper distances, a few trees, comparatively 
speaking, " produce the appearance not only of a thick plantation, but of one of the 
greatest variety, and a continually varying succession of outline presented to the eye, 
when driving along." Such, at least, was the opinion of Mr. Loudon. 
Gilpin, writing of the Scotch fir, which, he says, is commonly held in contempt, 
observes, that "it is seldom planted as a single tree, or in a judicious group, but 
generally in close compact bodies, in thick array, which suffocates and cramps the 
trees ; and if they ever get loose from this bondage, they are already ruined ; their 
lateral branches are gone, and their stems are drawn into poles, on which their heads 
appear stuck as on a centre ; whereas, if this tree had grown in its natural state, all 
mischief had been prevented. Its stem would have taken an easy sweep, and its 
lateral branches would have hung loosely and negligently, and the more so as there 
is something peculiarly light and feathery in its foliage." 
While on the subject of the Fir tribes, a few lines may be devoted to the eluci- 
dation of their botanical characters. All of them are arranged under the Jussieuean 
Order — Conifer re — -Cone-bearers. The flowers, male and female, are produced on 
the same individual, or upon two trees (i. e. are monoecious or dioecious). The male 
or sterile flowers consist of a single stamen, or of a few united together. The anther 
is two or many-lobed. Fertile flower is usually in cones. Ovary in the cones spread 
open, and appearing as a flat scale, without style or stigma. Fruit consists of a soli- 
tary naked seed, or of a cone. The order comprises two tribes. 1. The Abies or 
Pine tribe, of which the genera are, 1, Pin us, the true Pine ; 2, Abies, the Spruce 
Fir; 3, Lam?, the Larch. This last contains the true Cedar of Lebanon. Gun- 
ninghamia and Araucaria are noble trees of recent introduction. Tribe % contains 
the Cypresses. The genera are, Cupressus Thuja, or Arbor Vitse ; Juniperus, of 
which the common Juniper is one species ; another is the Virginian J uniper. or red. 
