282 
A COMPARISON OF THE 
Fig. 63. 
Fig. 62. To what extent a tendency to pictur¬ 
esqueness may go, without loss of symmetry, 
it is not easy to say. Fig. 62 is a well-pro¬ 
portioned tree of picturesque outline, and 
symmetrical as to the balance of its parts, 
but not in the similitude of its opposite 
halves. It is a form often seen in our native 
locusts and the Scotch elm. Figs. 63 and 
64 are both symmetrical, strikingly pictur¬ 
esque in outline, and yet totally unlike each other. The first is a 
form quite common to young weeping elms ; but with age, unlike 
most trees, they become more symmetrical 
and smoothly rounded. A full-grown weep¬ 
ing elm is the most perfect example of the 
union of symmetry, grace, and picturesque¬ 
ness, among all the trees of the temperate 
zone. 
Tree outlines may be divided into two 
great classes of forms, which merge into each 
other in every variety of combination. These 
are round-headed trees, and conical , or pyra¬ 
midal trees. 
Fig. 64 is a form characteristic of rapidly grown scarlet oaks or 
ginkgo trees. 
The contrast between this form and that of the young elm 
above, is very marked; yet in outline they are almost equally 
spirited, and in the balance of their oppo¬ 
site parts are alike perfect. The elm, how¬ 
ever, has the higher type of beauty, by 
reason of the less mechanical distribution of 
its weight, and the bolder projection of its 
branches. All such spirited forms suggest 
an inherent life and will in the tree, a kind 
of playful disregard of set forms, a youthful 
daring and defiance of the laws of gravita¬ 
tion that is apt to please persons of imag¬ 
inative minds. They are always favorites with artists ; while trees 
of more compact and methodical arrangement are preferred by 
Fig. 64. 
