Avenues. We seldom recommend the planting of avenues in the park except in certain localities noticed in our remarks on the approach. The stiff formality of the avenue is injurious to park scenery, as it frequently divides, by its straight lines, a fine expanse of grass, and obscures the most interesting part of the landscape. Another objection to the avenue is, that it requires to grow for the lifetime of two or three generations before it produces its full effect, and it is not surprising, therefore, that it is so seldom planted. The same trees arranged in groups and clumps, would present a beautiful appearance in one-third of the time. Avenues should hardly ever be attempted except on a level surface, or on ground with a slight and uniform rise. A close avenue composed of two rows of trees, and planted on an undulating surface, has always a poor look on the contrary, even in such situations, where there are breadth and mass, as in the compound avenues at Windsor, the effect is fine. On The question may be asked, "What is to be done with an old established avenue?" We may answer partly in the words of Mr. Gilpin. "The avenue," says he, "is in general so destitute of composition, by cutting the landscape in half, that the introduction of it must depend upon the circumstances of the place itself. the other hand, where time has invested it with dignity, and the rest of the scenery is coeval with it, temerity rather than judgment would dictate its destruction. Breaking it by partial removal is, I think, equally injudicious." With the opinions here expressed we heartily concur. We venerate an old avenue with its double or quadruple rows of ancestral trees. No sacrilegious axe ought to be lifted up against them, even though they divide the landscape in two. The destruction of a magnificent range of limes, or elms, or chestnuts, hallowed by immemorial associations, is too great a sacrifice to any prevailing taste, however excellent; and if by breaking is meant the removal of the greater part of the trees, and the preservation of such a small residue as will mark the position of the old lines, the effect would be worse than a total removal. In the dressed grounds, avenues, without injury to the general effect, may sometimes be formed through some of the large masses of wood; but in these cases the trees should not be placed at greater distances than is sufficient for a broad walk or ordinary drive. We do not admire a practice which has become common of late,—that, viz., of planting some of the finest lawns of pleasure-grounds with avenues of the Indian cedar (Pinus Deodara). Judging from the character of this tree, as well as from the peculiar forms of the fir tribe, we have great doubts whether these cedars will ever produce a fine avenue except as a broad and open one, with double rows on each side. The Indian cedar itself is highly interesting and beautiful; so far as we yet know it, it seems admirably adapted for light grouping or single trees, and it is to be hoped that it will prove sufficiently hardy, not only to live in our climate, but also to attain that magnitude and form, which have so often awakened the admiration of travellers in the East. 84 CHAPTER V. ORNAMENTAL CHARACTERS OF TREES, DETACHED AND IN COMBINATION. Introductory Remarks. SECT. I. The forms of Single Trees. - Broad Round-headed Trees.-The Spiry, Conical, or Pyramidal Configuration.--The Upright or Oblongated.-The Weeping or Pendulous. SECT. II. The Colours of Trees. - Table of the Colours of SECT. III. The Ornamental Character of Trees in Combination. Concluding If we may assimilate landscape gardening to landscape painting, we would say that trees are the principal means of ornament available to the garden artist. They are, as it were, the colours with which he paints, and with which he fills up the outlines presented by nature or selected by his own taste. We have already touched generally on the massing and grouping of trees-that is, so far as regards the forms and positions of these groups and masses and their relative combinations. Something remains to be said respecting the ornamental character or expression, if we may so call it, of trees, and of the facilities which they consequently afford in the laying out or improvement of park and garden scenery. The comparative value of trees as means of ornament is a subject which has been little studied, or, at least, it has been imperfectly expounded in books, and yet it is one of very great importance. The expression of the ground outline of a wood or clump, for example, may be perfect in itself, but it may be modified into very different degrees of excellence by the character of the trees of which it is composed. We can conceive two parks as nearly as possible the same in other respects, still if each is planted with trees of a distinct and peculiar kind, the difference of effects resulting will be so great as very much to diminish any original resemblance between them. Firs, when planted by themselves, or where they prevail to the general exclusion of deciduous trees, give a permanent evergreen character to the park. When the plantations are occupied by the common run of trees that shed their leaves, without a due admixture of the fir tribe, the results will be masses of foliage during the summer and autumn months, and an obvious bareness and meagreness in winter and spring, particularly where the bodies of wood are small, or are deficient in breadth. It is evident that much must be gained by a skilful distribution and mixture of both classes. The same remarks apply, and perhaps with increased force, to groups of single trees and to detached trees: these are very much dependent for their beauty and general effect on the kind of the trees employed. Our present object is rather to bring the ornamental character of trees before the notice of our readers, than to attempt a full exposition of a subject which, in a general point of view, is somewhat indefinite, and which, in its particular aspects, branches out into a multitude of details. Our remarks may be directed, first, to trees individually in respect to form; then, to their colour; and lastly, to their expression in combined masses and groups. SECT. I. THE FORMS OF SINGLE TREES. The forms assumed by the individuals of any species of tree, such as the oak or Scotch fir, vary much with the soil, situation, and age of the particular tree, yet amid all their diversities they preserve a character at once discernible by the practised eye. The oaks in the rich and open park, in the crowded forest, and in the mountain ravine differ greatly from each other, but they are plainly oaks, and have each a beauty of their own. How dissimilar also the plume-like ash in its youth, rushing up in some sheltered valley, to the roundheaded ash of middle age in an open situation, and still more to the gnarled, large-timbered, wavy-boughed, and pendulous-branched ash bending under the weight of years. In the same species too there are often constitutional differences, amounting almost to what botanists call varieties. These circumstances necessarily preclude minute verbal description. Still there are certain general forms affected by trees in their natural growth, and all that is required for the purpose of the planter is to keep these steadily in view. Though every species and variety of tree has its own peculiar expression, if not distinct character, we do not deem it necessary to advert to each separately, believing it to be sufficient for the illustration of our subject to class them under four leading divisions, and then to refer to a few of the kinds |