PRUNING FOREST TREES. 
15 
there is an object in hiding something, or 
near a piece of ornamental water, where it 
should seem natural. The fault of most rock- 
work is, that it is done upon too small a scale, 
so as to present no feature till you come upon 
it ; and then, instead of being like a rock, we 
have arches, and nooks, and points, like the 
ruins of some old miniature building, where 
even the Alpines look too large for their sta- 
tion. In other cases we have it like a cart- 
load of stones emptied in a heap, and then 
left. The rock-work on the island in the 
ornamental water of St. James's Park looks, 
for all the world, as if the commissioners of 
the pavement had borrowed the margin to lay 
their heaps of stone upon until they could 
appropriate them. It is no answer to tell us 
that stone cannot be procured so large ; be- 
cause, if a thing cannot be done properly, it 
should not be done at all ; and, where they 
are built with clinkers, or the bricks that have 
been vitrified by over-heating in the stack, 
and run together in huge lumps, they might, in 
such case, as well be built in imitation of large 
rocks as small stones. It is the only fault 
in the rock-work at the Regent's Park gar- 
dens, the passes with the rocky sides and the 
rocky arches, that they are too small; and we 
should much rather have seen one solid mass in 
imitation of a rock fallen into three, or four, 
or more pieces, somewhere by the side of the 
lake, than all the little affectations of rock- 
work which are so ingeniously, and, if we 
could magnify them, we should say, so well- 
contrived. Our sketch is a hurried piece of 
business; rather to give an idea of the size, than 
anything else. This would not be so gigantic 
an affair as might be imagined, if on the sides 
of a mount or hill ; and the conversion of one 
side of the mount in the Regent's Park into 
rock-work, after some such plan, would have 
given a splendid opportunity of growing even 
the largest rock-plants, and been a striking 
feature in the gardens ; because, in construct- 
ing it, preparations could be made for the 
growth of any plant that would be picturesque, 
inasmuch as it would strike at once into 
deep soil in the mount itself. But whenever 
we have seen rock -work, — even with all the 
advantage of hill and dale, — where the height 
is already provided by the ground itself, small 
stones, instead of large masses, are plastered 
up the sides, and there is no distinct character. 
Now, on the masses we recommend, there would 
appear nothing out of character, if a tree of 
some importance were growing from them, 
while plants of any size, from trees downwards, 
would be completely subservient to the entire 
work. In forming these works, care must be 
taken that the earth is solid beneath, that the 
roots of all kinds of plants may have solid soil 
to grow in ; for rain will wash away the earth 
if there be any hollow below to fill up; wh< 
if it is all solid, there will be no material 
change, to the detriment of the vegetation 
upon and between the stones, or brick-work 
in imitation of stones. The above ie only one 
of an infinite Dumber that could be offered as 
instances of a kind of rock-work upon a large 
scale; but even here, for the sake of diversity, 
there is a departure from nature; for a geolo- 
gist would say that such stone are not natural 
on the same spot. It is not, however, n< 
sary to please geologists in the structure of 
rock-work; the million will be satisfied while 
the single scientific man may find something 
to quibble at; and, in structures of this kind, 
as well as in gardens, we are not to strive at 
imitating a barren rock, nor the plain rock 
with its one or two sorts of plants cover- 
ing it; but we are bound to congregate as 
many natural beauties of rock- work into one 
spot, as we do the natural beauties of landscape 
into the space we are laying out : therefore, not 
only ought we to vary the description of rock' 
work, in figure and texture, but also bring 
together all the beautiful rock-plants of a hardy 
nature that can be found in all parts of the 
world, that the greatest possible diversity may 
be secured, and the best effect produced ; so 
that, while parts are admired for their beauty, 
the whole will form a noble object. 
PRUNING FOREST TREES. 
We do not find in the vegetable kingdom 
any thing like a robust branchless tree. The 
oak, naturally, is on all sides a wide spreader; 
even the poplar, which shoots up to a great 
height, is clad from the bottom to the top with 
branchlets; so is every other tree; and it 
would appear that the office of those branch- 
lets, or rather the leaves which they bear, is 
to elaborate the sap by exposing it to the 
light and air, and thus rendering it applicable 
to the wants of the tree. All men admit this; 
for perseverance in stripping a tree of its 
leaves will assuredly kill it. Excessive prun- 
ing, which is merely another mode of removing 
the leaves, often destroys the object operated 
upon; and every one must observe that such 
trees as are unmercifully stumped, more espe- 
cially cherries, no longer give any symptoms 
of life, and immediately decay. The leaves 
which a tree bear, then, operate as intimately 
with the life-giving principle which supports 
it as the lungs in the human frame do with 
the air we breathe. 
Is the removal of leaves therefore, under 
all circumstances, an evil ? No; for by ju- 
dicious pruning, great evils may be remedied. 
A tree which is forked, for instance, having 
two leading shoots contending for the mastery, 
may, by removing one of them, have the sap 
