112 
’ LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
method by which a harmonious combination of the 
different forms composing them may be made so as not 
to violate correct principles of taste. An indiscriminate 
mixture of their different forms would, it is evident, 
produce anything but an agreeable effect. For example, 
let a person plant together in a group, three trees of 
totally opposite forms and expressions, viz. a weeping 
willow, an oak, and a poplar ; and the expression of the 
whole would be destroyed by the confusion resulting 
from their discordant forms. On the other hand, the 
mixture of trees that exactly correspond in their forms, if 
these forms, as in oblong or drooping trees, are similar, 
will infallibly create sameness. In order then to produce 
beautiful variety which shall neither on the one side run 
into confusion, nor on the other verge into monotony, it 
is requisite to give some little attention to the harmony 
of form and color in the composition of trees in artificial 
plantations. 
The only rules which we can suggest to govern the 
planter are these : First, if a certain leading expression is 
desired in a group of trees, together with as great a variety 
as possible, such species must be chosen as harmonize with 
each other in certain leading points. And, secondly, in 
occasionally intermingling trees of opposite characters, 
discordance may be prevented, and harmonious expression 
promoted, by interposing other trees of an intermediate 
character. 
In the first case, suppose it is desired to form a group 
of trees, in which gracefulness must be the leading 
expression. The willow alone would have the effect ; but 
in groups, willows alone produce sameness : in order 
therefore, to give variety, we must choose other trees 
