FEBRUARY. 
29 
planted, some thirty years before. In thinning them it was necessary to use 
great caution— i. e., to be moderate, as many of the Oaks when exposed fell to 
one side, and would do no more good, but we went through the whole of it, 
and when I left it, it was in as good a state as a place could be which had been 
so mismanaged. Had my exertions been followed up with attention, it would 
have ended pretty well, but it has not been so, and all is again in a state of 
neglect. 
I have already alluded to the sameness of effect produced by the repetition 
of the same variety all over the place; I will now proceed to show the happier 
effects of a contrary practice. At Blenheim the Oak is planted in large bodies, 
there is no frittering. If the general mass is at all broken, it is done by a large 
body of another distinct kind of tree, which contrasts well, and increases the 
variety. The planting here was done by that consummate artist Brown, and 
Bepton says that in its first arrangement he had in view to make a fac-simile of 
the arrangement of the troops at the battle of Blenheim. But whatever were 
his intentions, he has succeeded in producing a sublime scene, abounding with 
unity of expression. We cannot help thinking that in laying out a great place, 
it is correct in principle to avoid the indiscriminate mixture of trees, and to 
take either the Oak, the English Elm, or the Beech as the prevalent tree, ac¬ 
cording to the soil. At Nuneham the English Elm prevails in one part of the 
park; it there forms the most glorious groups. Passing through these trees, 
you enter a grove of Beeches, and leaving this you come to very picturesque 
Oaks, and a beautifully varied scene of hill and dale. The Oak woods are well 
furnished with Hazel for underwood, and where the sides run out to the Park, 
the fences are carried in a good way, and the marginal trees are grouped to¬ 
gether in irregular lines, presenting only the appearance of a natural forest. 
To attain this end, there should be a careful pruning with a sharp knife, and a 
bill should never be used. When the trees produce laterals, they should be 
spurred in like an Apple stock, and when they shoot again, a portion of the 
spurs may be cut off closely and keenly. The trees outside the fence will only 
require pruning up to the height of the browsing line, and may be occasionally 
left two or three together, but those which are inside and are to form timber 
should be pruned up to 15 feet in height, and regularly thinned. With regard 
to thinning, I would make it a rule to allow every tree full exposure to light; 
for I believe fully that the overcrowding of the Nurses has been a source of 
irreparable injury, where otherwise there would have been fine trees. There 
are some places in this country where the Firs form the principal attraction of 
the place, and most fitly so, upon the extensive sand hills which constitute the 
princely domain of Woburn, where they prevail in magnificent masses, giving 
character to the place, and acting in this way as the Oaks at Blenheim. The 
Beech tree, too, forms beautiful masses, particularly on the lofty Chiltern Hills, 
but it has one great objection, no undergrowth will exist with it. Shardeloes 
and Ashridge, both planted by the immortal Bepton, afford fine specimens of 
sub tegmine Fagi ; in fact, nothing can be finer. Bepton has, too, planted some 
groups of Limes here, which are very beautiful and effective; but the finest 
sight of this kind which I have ever seen was at Althorpe, the seat of Lord 
Spencer, where the two sides of a straight walk are planted with this tree, now 
getting very old, and forming with their outstretched tops a magnificent arch¬ 
way, resembling the long aisle of an old cathedral. 
In establishing woods of Oaks in parks, we should recommend planting them 
only at rather more than the usual distance apart, and then filling up with 
Hazel plants. After the Oaks have stood two years, they should be cut down 
to the ground, and when they shoot, the strongest growth should be selected to 
make the future plant, carefully pruning in the laterals, as advised for the Elm. 
