The Beauty of Trees 
taller, narrower shape, or a hemlock, sweeping 
the grass with its branches. It is the same 
when trees are set in masses ; little thought 
is given to the way in which their forms will 
contrast one with the other, and a distressing 
confusion results where pendulous birches, 
spiry-topped spruces, round and solid horse- 
chestnuts, and straggling silver-maples work 
in concord only in the sense that each 
prevents the others from appearing well, 
and helps to deprive the plantation as a 
whole of unity, grace, and effective expres- 
sion. 
But even when facts of outline are borne 
in mind, facts of structure are constantly 
forgotten. Yet these are of particular im- 
portance when a tree is placed in isolation. 
Almost any kind of contour is agreeable in 
an isolated tree, but in certain situations it 
makes a vast difference whether the eye rests 
upon an almost unbroken surface, like that 
presented by the horse-chestnut until it has 
reached a great age, or upon a surface which 
an artist would call boldly and effectively 
modelled — a surface diversified by those al- 
ternations of light and shadow which give 
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