ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 
67 
in its prime, venerable and picturesque in its old age, it con- 
stitutes in its various forms, sizes, and developments, the 
greatest charm and beauty of the earth in all countries. The 
most varied outline of surface, the finest combination of pic- 
turesque materials, the stateliest country house would be com- 
paratively tame and spiritless, without the inimitable ac- 
companiment of foliage. Let those who have passed their 
whole lives in a richly wooded country, — whose daily 
visions are deep leafy glens, forest clad hills, and plains 
luxuriantly shaded, — transport themselves for a moment to 
the desert, where but a few stunted bushes raise their 
heads above the earth, or those wild steppes where the eye 
wanders in vain for some u leafy garniture,”-— where the sun 
strikes down with parching heat, or the wind sweeps over 
with unbroken fury, and they may perhaps estimate, by 
contrast, their beauty and value. 
We are not now to enumerate the great usefulness of 
trees, — their value in the construction of our habitations, our 
navies, the various implements of labour, — in short, the 
thousand associations which they suggest as ministering to 
our daily wants ; but let us imagine the loveliest scene, the 
wildest landscape, or the most enchanting valley, despoiled of 
trees , and we shall find nature shorn of her fair proportions, 
and the character and expression of these favourite spots 
almost entirely destroyed. 
Wood , in its many shapes, is then one of the great sources 
of interest and character in Landscapes. Variety, which we 
need scarcely allude to as a fertile source of beauty, is created 
in a wonderful degree by a natural arrangement of trees. 
To a pile of buildings, or even of ruins, to a group of 
rocks, or animals, they communicate new life and spirit 
by their irregular outlines, which, by partially concealing 
