81 
ON ARRANGING AND PLANTING HARDY ORNAMENTAL 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
Trees and shrubs may be said to hold precisely the same rank in the vegetable 
kingdom, with regard to external circumstances, as man in the animal. They are 
alike superior in their structure, more symmetrical in their form, and less evanescent 
in their duration. To their nourishment, also, their more volatile allies contribute 
by their death, since they feed, as it were, on the gases generated from their remains. 
It is not surprising, then, that their skilful and judicious cultivation should be 
regarded as the noblest occupation of the horticulturist ; or that a fine specimen 
of a rare exotic kind should be viewed with the proudest and most pleasurable 
emotions. The human mind is naturally impressed with grandeur ; and it has 
been well remarked : — ■ 
" Than a tree, a grander child earth bears not." 
By certain situations, however, and under different treatment, the appearance of 
these monarchs of vegetation is most powerfully affected ; and our present object 
is to institute a comparison between the method of arranging them in what are 
termed Arboretums, and that of planting them singly or grouped, without any 
regard to botanical order, in conspicuous parts of the pleasure ground. In so doing, 
we propose to examine the merits of each of these systems, and endeavour to show 
which is the most appropriate and ornamental. 
An arboretum, vaguely considered, is merely a collection of indigenous and 
exotic trees, disposed according to the taste of the proprietor ; and either scattered 
over an estate of twenty acres, or congregated on a superficies of one tenth that 
extent. This, however, is not the general acceptation of the term. In modern 
arboretums, every genus or tribe of plants is grouped together, more or less densely, 
and the whole collection arranged with some degree of order and regularity ; so 
that a connecting link of natural affinity may be discovered between immediate 
neighbours throughout. In estates of considerable circuit, or in botanical or other 
public gardens, such departments create a variation, and sometimes a pleasing one. 
They also furnish the beholder, at one gaze, with a knowledge of the hardy ligneous 
species of every genus, tribe, or order of plants, and their position in the natural 
system of botany. 
Arboretums are thus exceedingly advantageous to the scientific student, or to 
any individual anxious to acquire an extensive acquaintance with the aspect, habits, 
varieties, and affinities of arboreous plants. Thus arranged, also, a more specific 
and discriminate cultivation can be afforded, with much greater convenience and 
certainty. Indeed, perhaps, this is the only mode whereby a complete assortment 
can be conserved, which in many respects is most desirable. But when this is 
VOL. VI. NO. LXIV. M 
