THE BEAUTIFUL IN A TREE. 
w 
after the fearful Murphy winter, when the mercury had fallen to 2° or more below zero, and by which 
the fig trees in one of the gardens had, in the greater number, been killed to the ground. An Apricot 
tree stood at some distance from a vinery then at work ; a small shoot or two had been led horizontally 
across the breast of the chimney ; and upon one of these there were not only leaves of full size and 
verdure, but an Apricot nearly an inch long, and quite healthy. The frost had been intensely severe 
in February, and the cold was considerable at the period when myself and two or three visiting 
gardeners witnessed the facts stated, and also the comparative torpor of every other portion of that 
Apricot tree. Again, I planted a Vine from a pot that had been treated in heat, outside of a stove : to 
my then surprise, it had sent forth strong shoots, with expanding leaves, before the winter had passed, 
and many weeks before the wall Vines would push. 
Thus it appears certain that many, if not all, trees may be educated, and thereby brought to assume 
precocious, or even late habits, of which men of foresight may avail themselves with considerable 
advantage. "We may also derive some useful information by observing the habits of trees trained 
against open walls, where the aspects are various ; thus, for instance, if the body and major part of a 
Pear tree occupy the south exposure, and a portion of the branches be led across a right angle, and be 
then trained against a side facing the east — all circumstances, as to clear sunlight, obscuration from 
clouds, being nearly the same — a considerable difference between the two may be observed, the south 
taking the lead. 
The Gardeners' Chronicle, while advocating the theory of locally partial, and particular nutrition, 
embraced the opportunity thus offered, to direct attention to the temperature of Vine borders. 
There can be no doubt that if an external border be wet, and become frosted after the Vines within a 
house shall have produced laterals, and the germs of clusters, some danger of a fatal check will be 
incurred. But there is one particular condition which should ever be fulfilled — the entire stems — 
whether the roots stand wholly outside or not, ought to be within the house. Holes or such inlets will 
not suffice except for greenhouses or uniovceH late vineries. If the stems be exposed to frost, the sap 
and elaborated juice must be retarded. A definite rale must then be formed and maintained. Cover 
with litter or mulch, if you like, and in that case apply the material early in the autumn, and let it be 
deep ; but on no account fail to have the whole length of the stem enclosed, and under the influence of 
the internal warm air of the house. 
I 
THE BEAUTIFUL IN A TREE.* 
S?N what does the beauty of a tree consist? We mean, of course, what may strictly be called an 
ornamental tree — not a tree planted for its fruit or its timber, but standing alone in the lawn or 
meadow, growing in groups in the pleasure ground, over-arching the road-side, or bordering some 
stately avenue. 
Is it not, first of all, that such a tree, standing where it can grow untouched and develop itself on 
all sides, is one of the finest pictures of symmetry and proportion that the eye can anywhere meet 
with ? The tree may be young, or it may be old, but if left to nature, it is sure to grow into some 
form that courts the eye, and satisfies it. It may branch out boldly and grandly like the Oak ; its top 
may be broad and stately like the Chestnut ; or drooping and elegant like the Elm ; or delicate and 
airy like the Birch ; but it is sure to grow into the type form — either beautiful or picturesque — that 
nature stamped upon its species, and which is the highest beauty that such tree can possess. It is true, 
that nature plants some trees, like the fir and pine, in the fissures of the rock, and on the edge of the 
precipice ; that she twists their boughs and gnarls their stems by storms and tempests, thereby adding 
to their picturesque power in sublime and grand scenery ; but, as a general truth, it may be clearly 
stated, that the beautiful in a tree of any kind is never so fully developed as when, in a genial soil and 
climate, it stands quite alone, stretching its boughs upward freely to the sky, and outward to the 
breeze, and even downward towards the earth, almost touching it with their graceful sweep, till only 
a glimpse of the fine trunk is had at its spreading base, and the whole top is one great globe of floating, 
waving, drooping, or sturdy luxuriance, giving one as perfect an idea of symmetry and proportion as 
can be found short of the Grecian Apollo itself. 
We present this beau-ideal of a fine ornamental tree, in order to contrast it with another picture, 
not from nature, but by the hands of quite another master. 
This master is the man whose passion is to prune trees. To his mind, there is nothing comparable 
to the satisfaction of trimming a tree. A tree in a state of nature is a no more respectable object than 
• From the Horticulturist (U. S.) 
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