All these observations will be understood as referring to grounds near the house. Distant scenes of a park, hills or mountains, arc only to be improved by wood ; and these re marks, in so far as they extend, will suggest4not what is to be removed, but what must be concealed. Many excellent remarks on this part of the subject are to be found in the picturesque tours of Mr. Gilpin, referring to ranges of hilly scenery in. different parts of the country, of much of which he has given elms. With respect to ground, as re spects garden scenery, almost the only writer who has treated of it at length, is Mr. Wheatley, whose excellent book so frequently referred to by all succeeding writers on gardening, ought to be in the hands of every man of taste. In the chapter on ground in that work, the author concludes with a salutary caution which ought ever to be taken in con nection with the wisest rules, " a caution which has more than once been alluded to must always be had in remem brance; never to suffer general considerations to interfere with extraordinary great ejects, which rise superior to all regulations, and perhaps owe part of their force to their deviation from them. Singularity causes at least surprise, and surprise is allied to astonishment. These effects arc not, however, attached merely to objects of enormous size; they frequently are produced by a greatness of style and character, within such 'an extent as ordinary labour may modify, and the compass of a garden include. The cau tion therefore may not be useless within these narrow bounds; bin nature proceeds still farther, beyond the ut most verge to it hich art can follow, and in scenes licen tiously wild, not content with contrast, forces even contra dictions to unite. The grotesque discordant shapes, which. are often there confusedly tumbled together, might suffi ciently justify the remark. But the caprice does not stop here ; to mix with such shapes a form perfectly regular is still more extravagant ; and yet the effect is sometimes so wonderful, that we cannot wish the extravagance correct ed." Obs. on Mod. Card. p. 23.
Almost all the grand effects in both styles of improve ment are produced by wood, which, whether in scattered forests, thickets, or groups, or in compact geometric squares, avenues, or rows, constitutes the greatest charm of every country. A tree in itself is indeed the noblest ob ject of inanimate nature ; combines every species of beauty, from its sublime effect as a whole, to the most minute and refined expression of mind in the individual beauty of its leaves; exhibits that majestic uniformity and infinite va riety which constitutes the essence of relative beauty, and the natural ex pressions of individual species, are as various as are their forms and magnitude, their utility to man, and the situations, soils, climates, and other general and acci dental circumstances of which they are indications. Pre viously, therefore, to entering on the subject of wood, we shall endeavour to form some -arrangement of this great storehouse of beauty.
The hardy trees of Europe may be classed according to magnitude, fol in, colour, mode of growth, duration, and ex pression.
1. Magnitude. Trees of great height are, the English elm, ash, larch, Polish and Carolina poplar, &c.; but the laburnum, mountain ash, and evergreen oak, are very low trees. A medium in height may be found in the maple, pine, and birch. Some trees exceed in breadth, as the oak, Spanish chesnut, and Scotch elm ; others of different heights are very slender, as the Lombardy poplar, cypress, and bird cherry. • 2. Form. The oak and Spanish chesnut afford the most irregular and picturesque shapes with round heads ; the English elm, and ash, have long narrow forms and round heads ; the beech and horse chesnut, compact oval forms, with obtuse heads ; the larch, spruce, and fir tribe in gene ral, have conical shapes, and pointed spiry tops, Sec.
3. Colour. The Scotch fir, yew, and horse chesnut, are dark greens ; the larch and elm, a yellow green; the abele, Huntingdon willow, a silvery green, &e.
4. Mode and time of growth. The nature of some trees is to lose their lower branches as they increase in heigt-A, ss the fir tribe ; and others have a tendency to retain them, as the wych elm. In some the branches descend, and often recline on the ground, as the lime tree and platanus. Some are very compact in their foliage, as the horse chesnut ; others very open, as the ash and the acacia. Some have drooping spray, as the weeping willow ; that of others tends upwards, as in the Lombardy poplar ; horizontally, as in the oak ; and obliquely, as in the Scotch fir. Some grow with rapidity, as the Carolina and Athenian poplars ; others very slowly, as the oak and the stone pine.
5. Duration. • The most durable of trees is the oak ; the least so, some of the poplar and fir tribe. A medium is to be found in the elm and lime.
6. Expression. Sonic trees convey ideas of utility in the arts, and mark the attention and industry of man, as • planted them for this purpose, as the oak, ash, elm, &c. Others are known, or supposed to be of little use, and convey ideas of neglect or of wildness, as the horn beam, sorb, trembling poplar, &c. Some indicate general improvement and artificial plantations, as the larch and spruce fir ; others garden scenery or plantations near a house, as the cedar, stone pine, and platanus. Some in dicate rich deep soil, as the oak ; and rich thin soil, as the elm ; others chalk or gravel, as the beech ; rocky ground, as the ash ; marshy ground, as the alder ; the proximity of water, as the willow.
There are also natural expressions belonging to trees, partly from general, and partly from accidental associa tion; as strength and stability to the oak, ease and ele gance to the birch, sweetness to the lime, gloom to the cy press and yew, melancholy to the weeping willow, &c.
Shrubs may be similarly arranged, but we prefer arrang ing them into magnitude, mode of growth, evergreen, de ciduous, native, naturalized, and exotic.