ON FORMING AND TREATING HOME PLANTATIONS. 
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and beauty, by letting in light on the glade thus opened, as by bringing in the new and 
delightful scenery beyond. 
But, apart from the desirableness of adapting the forms of plantations to the varying 
surface of the ground, and to the concealment or agreeable exhibition of distant objects, it is 
essential that every group should be considered separately , and their outlines be determined in 
reference to their own effect, as well as in relation to other features. A plantation may or 
may not be beautiful in itself; and while, in arranging the general plan of an estate, each 
mass should be made to unite harmoniously with the whole, its individual character must 
never be lost sight of, as it is chiefly by attending to the beauty of the parts, that a 
beautiful whole can be realised. 
The first point to be attained in ornamental planting, after the position of the mass has 
been fixed upon, is to make its outline as irregular as possible. Variety of outline is the 
very essence of beauty in a plantation. Anything approaching to straight lines, either in 
the form of a group, or in the disposition of the trees in it, is quite fatal to beauty. 
Circles, also, or any regular figures, are alike to be deprecated, unless where it is intended 
ultimately to thin out the trees very much along their margins, so as to break the regularity 
of the line. And even in this case it is better to give the group something approaching 
to its ultimate shape in the first instance; for, during the time of its growth, it will 
always have a stiff and unsightly appearance. 
It is not, of course, pretended that small plantations, with a regular outline, may not, 
by some accident, or in some particular aspect, produce a fine effect. All that is here 
attempted, or will hereafter be aimed at, is to lay down something like general rules. 
Although, however, diversity of outline in plantations is so exceedingly important, 
anything abrupt or rugged is, except in peculiar localities of a wild or very picturesque 
character, to be specially avoided. Smoothness, and roundness, and easy flowing 
transitions, constitute the charm of home plantations. The lines should, therefore, be in 
soft gentle sweeps, with more or less of occasional boldness, to relieve them of any tendency 
to tameness and monotony. But still, even in these projecting parts, the same easiness of 
curve should be observed. 
Hitherto, the exterior or ground outline only of plantations has been considered. The 
surface or horizontal line which the upper branches compose must now be mentioned. 
And this, which may for convenience be called the sky outline, is perhaps of more 
consequence than that already discussed. Where this fringe of plantation comes between 
the eye and the sky — as it always does from some point or other, unless the group be in a 
very low hollow or dell — the beauty or ugliness of its outline is more immediately 
perceptible, and continues to attract more attention, than is ever the case with the ground 
line. To render that agreeable, therefore, should be a prime object with the planter. 
Where only a very small group is concerned, its sky outline must be left to Nature or 
to judicious thinning. Still, even here, perhaps, the placing some of the trees at a greater 
distance than others, and varying the sorts, will produce considerable change and freshness 
of form. But, in larger masses, especially where they are of any considerable length, and 
the ground is at all varied, the best and most marked results may be secured, by inter- 
spersing trees of lower growth and bushes irregularly among the larger kinds, and taking 
care, in thinning, to leave such lower-growing sorts as part of the permanent material of 
the mass. This, in fact, is the only way in which lines of plantation that are necessarily 
prolonged can be rendered otherwise than insipid and displeasing, especially if they are 
on elevated ground. 
In regard to the proper size for plantations which are made for ornament on a tolerably 
large estate, it may be observed, that the nearer they are to the house the smaller they 
should be, because, by the laws of perspective, the closer an object is placed to the observer 
the larger is the extent of distant prospect which it covers. Hence, when it is not desired to 
shut out much of the remoter scenery, the park or home plantations should never be large. 
In proportion, however, as they recede from the house, the plantations should become broader 
and bolder in their outlines, that they may have a more massive and imposing effect, and 
not appear too much frittered away. The view of a fine ample wood on the slope and 
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