240 THE RENOVATION OF OLD PLACES, 
up old fir trees just high enough 
to give a clear view of the lawn 
under them, as shown by Fig. 44. 
The reader will observe that a 
glimpse of quite an extent of lawn 
is suggested under the branches 
of this tree. If, however, the 
branches rested upon the ground, 
the landscape vista would be 
effectually shut out. The advan- 
tage of this mode of treatment is 
principally on small grounds, for, 
were there space enough to secure 
ample lawn-views without it, we would by no means recommend 
this mode of securing them. 
In choosing which to cut out, and which to retain, let it be 
observed that a large tree of an inferior sort may be better worth 
preserving than a small or thin specimen of varieties that are 
otherwise superior. There is no more disagreeable impertinence 
to the cultivated eye than the growth of slender starved saplings 
planted under the branches of large trees, and striving to get to 
the sun and sky by thrusting themselves between the limbs of their 
superiors. As between a sugar-maple and a black oak, for in- 
stance, the former is by far the most beautiful and desirable species 
in all respects ; but, if you have a well branched large tree of the 
latter and only young sapling maples, we would sacrifice the sap- 
lings of the better breed for the mature beauty of the inferior oak. 
There is a dignity in big trunks, and loftiness, for which the pretti- 
ness of young trees is an unsatisfactory substitute. 
Everybody has heard of the countryman who went to see a city 
but “ could not see the town, there were so many houses ! ” His 
quaint speech ludicrously suggests the main fault of most old 
places ; the multiplicity of their trees and shrubs conceal each 
other, so that they have little beauty either singly or in the mass ; 
and they are rarely so arranged as to make the home they surround 
the centre of a sylvan picture. Wherever there are large trees 
there must be proportional breadths of unbroken lawn— open spaces 
Fig. 44. 
