The species of tree ought obviously to be those of the part of the mass to which they belong ; for thickets, groups, and single trees, ought to resemble disjointed and broken fragments from those masses. But in particular cases, for rendering a prominence still more prominent, or in creasing the depth of a recess, a few plants of similar or not discordant growths, but of darker or lighter greens, may at a distance add to the effect of each. By the same process, with more contrasted species, where no other mode can be put in execution, in formality of a sin gle row may in some degree be varied n its situation and contour.
S. The hun.ra, surface, we I already hinted, must it Amore in a considerable degree the form anti magni tude, both of groups and The beauty of all Ver daLt scenery depends, more than on any other cIrCum ztanCe, (1 ti e of the ground's surface. Wood w ill almost ales 41s :10(1 to this beauty by heightening the cminenees. A few toes r n the summit of a knoll raise it to the ehatactcr of a hill. A connected train of groups placed alai g the back cf a ridge produce at once a bolder and mot e varied outline, and render a feature prominent and beautiful, which was before dull or disagreeable in ex pression. To plant the hills, and leave bare the rallies, is therefore a good general maxim; though carried to an un due excess, or used without taste or feeling, by Brown and othe r popular artists. At the first introduction of the mo dern style of gardening, all the hills were planted, but few of them presented more than a circular clump of a few yards diameter, perched on their summit. The country abounds in examples which ought to serve as beacons to all future improvers, and warn them against an igno rant adoption of any maxim, without duly studying its spirit &nd meaning. To plant a hill, is not to plant only its summit, but in all cases a part, and in many the greater part of its sides. Their beauty individually requires this ; and the idea of a w hole, renders their connection with other hills, by clothing more or less not only their sides, but the intermediate rallies or plains, an essen tial consideration. In extending this practice to mountain scenery, the powerful effect of wood may be nobly display ed by the hand of the master, who, following the idea of the poet, shall may suggest. The proportions of such trees as are orilf ornamental, and such as are valuable as timber, must be in di grec determined by the chat actcr of the place, but chiefly by the taste and view of the owner. Beauty alone, •iti•nit utility, will not long please ; and a few single groups and plaats of the rarer species, in the grounds more immediately consecrated to man, will generally afford more satisfaction than a lavish display of exotics ; the former will always present a more luxuriant and thriving display of scenery than the latter, and sooner attain the ma turity of beauty.
In determining the order of the sorts, regard must be had, not only to choose forms and colours, which will ac cord and form harmonious breadths of woody surface to the eye, but to place every species as much as possible in its natural situation. The more delicate sorts should be placed in sheltered, the more hardy in exposed, surfaces ; the resinous ti ibe on hills and rocky ground, and aquatics in low vallies, banks of rivers, or dells, using caution, however, not to display an expression of moisture or bleak. ness, when the idea of dryness and shelter would be more desirable. In precarious situations, a thin sprinkling of the best common hardy trees, as of the oak, birch, Scotch fir, &ie. should extend over the whole residence, in case of ac. cident to the others. In such'cases, it is always best to de pend on the native or naturalized trees, for general effect, and confine the introduction of foreign sorts to the shrub bery or some other limited scene. Mr. Price has treated this subject with much ingenuity ; and in reprobating the common practice of mixing as many different sorts as can be procured, in order to produce variety, observes, that " variety, of which the true end is to relieve the eye, not to perplex it, does not consist in the diversity of separate ob jects, but in the diversity of their effects when combined together, in a difference of composition and character. Many think, however, that they have obtained that grand object, when they have exhibited in one body all the hard names of the Linr,xan system ; but when as many plants as can be well got together are exhibited in every shrub bery, or in every plantation, the result is a sameness of a different kind, but not less truly a sameness than would arise from there being no diversity at all ; for there is no having variety of character, without a certain distinct ness, without certain marked features on which the eye can dwell." 5. The manner of plan:ing is alike suggested by nature; and the plants ought to be inserted in such a way, that if any particular part were separately examined, it might pre sent clusters of groups—not equidistant plants. The effect of this arrangement will not be that composition of low and high, oblique and upright stems, and young and old trees, and low growths, which we find in forest scenery; but it is all that can be done in imitation of it at the first planting; and subsequent thinning, pruning, cutting down, moving, renversing, planting, and sowing, must be used from time to time to complete the imitation or allusion, unless the owner will rest satisfied with an inferior degree of beauty.