other ramose-headed trees, the length of naked trunk bears a much less proportion to the head. Shrubs are distinguished from trees, not only pictorially, but also botanically, by having no distinct trunk, or naked stem, but, whether large or small, forming one entire bush.

The trunks of trees may farther be considered with reference to the manner in which they rise out of the soil, and to the manner in which the head of the tree is supported by them. Trees which grow in thick woods, where the annual crop of leaves falls down, and rots into mould, have their trunks apparently without bases; but trees which stand in open situations, where the falling leaves are blown away, always rise out of the ground with a conspicuous base, formed by the junction of the trunk with the roots. No circumstance adds more to the effect of a tree, as a stately and durable object in a landscape, than the appearance of its trunk, rising from a secure and widely spreading base; and this appearance is one which may be imitated by art, both in drawing landscapes, and in landscape-gardening, and whether the trees to be introduced are young or old.

The perpendicularity or inclination of the trunks of trees are circumstances well deserving the study of the artist. Wherever trees have grown up fortuitously in groups or masses, the trunks of many of them will be found more or less inclined to the horizon; and their heads will often appear ill balanced when taken singly, though in combinations such trees make the most varied groups. Trees which have been planted singly, and exposed alike on every side, grow up with erect trunks, and form the most stately and well-balanced heads. Such trees always have the appearance of having been planted by art; while the others seem to convey the idea of their having been subjected to the operation of natural causes. Trees of the first kind may be called gardenesque trees, and of the latter, picturesque trees. Trees which grow out of rocks, or on precipices, or on the banks of water, almost always have their trunks inclined to the horizon; as trees on level surfaces, other circumstances being the same, have their trunks at right angles to the horizon.

Though shrubs are without trunks, yet the same general remarks will apply to them. A detached shrub, on a level surface, is clothed to the ground on every side; a shrub which has grown up among other shrubs or trees, or which stands on a slope or hangs over water, will be inclined to one side. Shrubs, however, admit of much less variety in point of attitude than trees.

The branches of trees differ in many particulars. The frondose branches of the pine and the fir tribe never, except under accidental circumstances, attain any great size; on the other hand, the ramose branches of the oak, the chestnut, &c., frequently attain a size which rivals that of the trunk. The branches of some kinds of trees proceed regularly from the stem, in some definite and obvious order of succession; others proceed from the stem apparently in an irregular manner. Some extend a great length horizontally, or at right angles to the stem; and others a great length acutely, or obliquely to it. The heads of some trees, as the cedar of Lebanon, in a detached situation, seem to comsist entirely of spreading branches; of others, such as the pinaster, of a few branches at the upper extremity of the trunk. The ramifications of the branches are as various as their mode of insertion in the trunk : some are quite regular, as in the fir tribe; and others are exeedingly various and intricate, as in the oak. The branches of some trees have few branchlets, as in most of the poplars; others have many branchlets, as in the oak, the beech, the birch, &c. The same observations will apply to shrubs, but not in the same degree. In the case of shrubs, numerous stems arise from the root; and these stems, in many cases, produce only branchlets and spray, and, in others, only leaves. In some shrubs, as in the common laurel, the branches trail on the ground; in others, as in the berberry and the lilac, they are numerous and erect. Certain shrubs have stems which twine round, or are otherwise supported by, trees or other objects; such as the ivy, the clematis, &c.; and others rise up, and fall down, as in the case of the common bramble. Some shrubs are, in their details, like a collection of miniature trees; as, for example, the butcher's broom. In

a botanical point of view, the variety which trees and shrubs present, with respect to their trunks and branches, is almost endless: but we have, at present, only to consider them with a view to pictorial effect.

The mode of growth in trees and shrubs varies according to the kinds; and is modified only in a slight degree by situation, soil, and climate. The main stems of almost all trees have a tendency to grow upright; but the branches proceed from these stems in different directions in different trees. The growths, that is, the branchlets and spray produced by the branches, extend themselves horizontally in some cases, as in the oak; upwards in others, as in the beech; and in some downwards, as in the weeping willow and the weeping birch. In some they are rigidly upright and compact, as in the Lombardy poplar; and in others they are upright and sparse (that is, thin), as in the gymnocladus. In young trees and shrubs the mode of growth is more decidedly exhibited than in old trees, because the growth is more rapid; and in detached trees it is more conspicuous than in such as are crowded, because the nature of the tree, in such situations, is more perfectly developed.

In shrubs, the mode of growth is often the principal circumstance by which, in a pictorial point of view, they can be characterised; because they have not sufficient magnitude to admit of great variety of form, or of outline: they are without trunks to admit of variety of attitude; and they are without large branches to admit of marked character. The artist, therefore, in order to render them interesting, must have recourse to their mode of growth, and to their foliage; and for these reasons, also, they ought almost always to be placed in the foreground, both of pictures and of garden landscapes.

The mode of tufting, that is, the mode in which the leaves combine into those masses which appear on the surface of the tree, varies with the kind of tree; and depends principally on the mode of growth, though, to a certain extent, it is influenced by the form of the leaves. The general form of tufts is roundish, or elliptical; the long axis of the ellipsis, or of the roundish figure, being universally in a horizontal direction. One tuft is separated from another by intervals of shade in the body of the tree, and by the background where the tufts compose the marginal outline. All tufts have their margins more or less indented, which depends on the forms and clusters of the leaves.

The leaves of trees and shrubs are almost as various as the species; but, pictorially, their forms are chiefly noticeable only so far as they combine into masses. A single leaf, in a tree viewed pictorially, is at such a distance from the eye as seldom to be seen in its entire form; but something of the general form of the leaves is recognisable in the margins of the tufts of foliage, and more especially in those which are nearest to the eye. The margins of these tufts may be said to be almost always more or less indented or serrated; the serratures differing in magnitude, in depth, in direction, and in being more or less blunt at their extremities.

The spray of trees, that is, the last made shoots on the extremities of the branchlets, is as various as the species of trees. In some it is horizontal, as in the silver fir; in others it is pendent, as in the larch, the weeping willow, and in some species of birch; in others it is rigid, as in the gymnocladus ; and in others crooked, as in some of the oaks and thorns; in some it is thick, and unmarked by buds, as in the fig and the walnut; in others it is clothed with leaves throughout the year, as in all the evergreens.

The

The buds of trees and shrubs may be considered as scarcely perceptible in pictorial point of view; nevertheless, the spray of some trees are without visible buds; and in others, for example, the horsechestnut, the Bétula nigra, and the Quércus sessiliflòra, the buds are very conspicuous. blossom buds, both of trees and shrubs, are always much larger than the common buds; for which reason, in looking at a tree pictorially, during the spring season, it will be some assistance to the artist to know whether the tree is one which produces large or small flowers; and whether it is of a sufficient age to produce flowers at all. The knowledge of this, and of

other particulars which may be considered botanical, will be of great assistance to an artist, in enabling him to correct his pictorial observations.

These are the chief circumstances, with regard to trees and shrubs, towards which attention ought to be directed, with a view to their pictorial effect, independently of the associations connected with them; and hence, in giving the history of individual species, it would be necessary to test each by all these different properties, with a view to determining its appropriate uses in landscape-gardening, and in ornamental planting.

SECT. II. Of the Expression and Character of Trees and Shrubs considered pictorially.

EVERY object in nature that forms a whole has some expression. If the nature of the object is unknown to the beholder, the expression which he assigns to it is analogous to that of some object with which he is already familiar; and he uses the same terms to describe its appearance as he would apply to such objects. For example, a tall, erect, regularly clothed tree will be described by the epithets stately, noble, or handsome; another kind of tree, with light airy foliage and a wavy stem, will be called graceful; and so on.

Character is some circumstance added to expression, which renders it more remarkable; and the circumstance which has this effect will generally be found to be the accidental exaggeration of some quality belonging to the natural expression of the object. For example, in the case of handsome regularly clothed trees, supposing a number of them standing together, character would be added to one of them by the extraordinary prolongation and magnitude of one or more of its branches; or by some of its branches having been taken away, so as to expose a portion of the trunk conspicuously, while the remainder continued clothed. Character would also be added to one tree, among a number of the same kind all previously alike, if a portion of this tree were scathed by lightning; or if some circumstance were to occur which threw the trunk over to one side. In either of the latter cases, what is called character would be conveyed by the object displaying, conspicuously, something which did not naturally belong to its species; while, in the former case, character was given by the exaggeration of some quality which was natural to the species.

The expression of trees may be said to be of two kinds : that which proceeds from their organic influence on the eye as forms, without reference to their nature, and altogether apart from moral associations; and that in which moral associations are the principal cause of the expression.

Supposing a person to see a tree or shrub for the first time, and to be totally ignorant of its nature; he could only look upon it in the light of a form; and, in this case, its expression, to him, would depend upon its resemblance to forms which he previously knew, whether geometrical figures, or the figures of other objects. Thus it is, that the first effort which the mind makes to discover beauty in natural forms is, to rocognise in them some of the forms of art; and hence, in the infant state of this taste in individuals, the first trees that would be admired would be those the heads of which bore the nearest resemblance to a globe, a cone, or some readily recog nisable figure. The next step would be the recognition of some artificial figure, in the trees or shrubs of more regular outlines. To this would succeed the recognition of several figures contained within one general figure; and, lastly, the recognition, among these several figures, of regularity in their arrangement, or of symmetry in their disposition; of variety; of intricacy; and, lastly, of harmony and of character. In this way it will be seen, that a tree or a shrub is capable of exciting many ideas of beauty, considered simply as a form, and altogether apart from considerations of usefulness, of botanical interest, or of moral associations.

A tree, to be regular, or, in other words, to have the expression of regu

larity, must exhibit the same number of tufts of the same size, and at the same distance from each other, on both sides of the trunk, or centre line. Such a tree, as a whole, we may suppose to be a regular globular figure; and it is a property of regularity, that one portion of any figure which is regular, being separated from the rest, will still be regular. If the globular head of the regular tree, therefore, were cut exactly in two, either vertically or horizontally, the separated portions would each be regular figures, that is, semi-globes.

In a symmetrical tree, on the other hand, there may be the greatest irregularity in the form and number of the parts, provided, only, that the same quantity of these be distributed on each side of the central vertical line, or trunk, of the tree. In the lower part of the tree, the branches or tuftings may protrude chiefly on the right hand and be large; and, on the upper part of the tree, they may protrude chiefly on the left hand, and be small; or they may be of mixed sizes in both places. Now, it is the characteristic property of a symmetrical figure, that, when it is cut in two, the parts separated, taken singly, are neither regular nor symmetrical; and, consequently, that they will not produce a whole in any way, unless they are reunited as they were before. By imagining such a tree as we have described, separated into two portions by a central vertical line, it will readily occur to the mind, that neither of these portions was either regular, or could in any way form a whole. Whoever wishes to enter on the study of the expression of regularity, symmetry, intricacy, and harmony, in detail, may refer to articles on the subject in the first volume of the Architectural Magazine.

The lowest degree of organic beauty, in a tree, we may suppose to be the form of a small-sized tree with a lumpish head, like the Pyrus Aria; constituting one uniform mass, light on one side, and shaded on the other. A higher degree of beauty will be, where the general form of the mass is that of a cone, or where it is egg-shaped; because these forms contain an additional element of beauty to that constituting a globe, viz. that of elongation. A still higher degree of beauty will be produced, where all the branches of the tree, in the case either of a globe or cone, are distinctly marked and regularly placed on each side of the trunk, as in the case of a fir; and one still higher, where the branches and tufts project irregularly, but are still so balanced, on each side of the centre, as to form, on the whole, a symmetrical figure. Such a figure, where the tufts are numerous, varies in point of size and disposition; and, where the symmetry is perfect, will exhibit the greatest organic beauty of which trees are susceptible.

The association of ideas connected with trees has given rise to what is called their moral and historical expression. A tree which is young and growing freely, is said to be in good health, and thriving; and one that is not growing freely, is said to be sickly. A tree with a thick trunk and spreading branches is said to be strong and vigorous; one with a tall and slender trunk, to be light and elegant; one with a bending, or serpentine, wavy-like stem, as we have before observed, to be graceful; a tree with upright growths, to be rigid; and one in which the branches and spray droop, to be mournful, or weeping. In like manner, there are particular associations connected with trees which bear fruit; with those which grow in particular soils or situations, as mountains, marshes, &c.; and with those which are applied to particular purposes, as the oak for ship-building; the pine and fir for house-carpentry; the willow for basket-making; the thorn for hedges; and so on. The historical and geographical associations connected with trees are numerous, and of great interest: for example, the platanus reminds us of the respect paid to this tree in Persia; the sweet bay, of its shoots being used by the Romans to crown their warriors; the vine and the olive, of their unknown antiquity, and the highly prized liquors made from their fruits: and the cedar of Lebanon, of the esteem in which its wood was held in the days of Solomon. A knowledge of all the different associations which belong to each particular kind of

tree, as it must add greatly to the enjoyment derivable from them, ought always to form a part of their individual history.

One of the most common and generally understood expressions of trees is, that which is called their picturesque beauty. Much has been written, by Gilpin, Uvedale Price, and others, in order to define the meaning of the word picturesque; and the expression of this beauty has been divided into two kinds: that of the beautiful, or smooth picturesque, suitable for cultivated scenery, and also for painting; and that of the rough picturesque, suitable for wild and forest scenery, and eminently so for graphic representation, whether by the pencil, or the palette. Among trees, whether in a wild or cultivated state, are found both these expressions; and, as an example of the first, we may give young specimens of the willow and the lime, and young trees generally; and of the second, the oak, the cedar, the thorn, and old trees generally. For a tree to be picturesque, it is not necessary that it should stand singly, or be at all symmetrical in point of form, or the general balance of its head; on the contrary, a mutilated tree, or one the trunk of which, from some accidental cause, has grown to one side, may be as picturesque as a tree which grows erect, and is comparatively perfect in all its parts; provided only that it is not a peculiar tree, such as that shown in fig. 1. p. 195. The only thing which is essential to picturesque beauty in a tree, is, that it should be capable of readily grouping with another tree, or with any building, object, or animal, so that the combination may form a satisfactory whole. It is evident that this remark applies alike to trees of the rough picturesque, and of the smooth picturesque since young trees, which belong to the latter kind of beauty, will group together, or with other objects, just as readily as old trees which belong to the former kind of this expression.

The expression of gardenesque beauty, in individual trees, differs from the picturesque, in being (whether in the rough or the polished variety of the expression), at all times, regular, or symmetrical. The gardenesque is found exclusively in single trees, which have been planted in favourable situations; not pressed on, during their growth, by any other objects; and allowed to throw out their branches equally on every side, uninjured by cattle or other animals; and, if touched by the hand of the gardener, only to be improved in their regularity and symmetry. A truly gardenesque tree, when fully grown, has always some of its branches depending on the ground, in order to mark it as a tree of the garden or lawn; and not one of the park, where its lower branches would be separated from the ground by that horizontal line formed by the browsing of cattle; or one of the forest, where, from being pressed on by other trees, or, when young, growing up under the shade of an old tree, its form would necessarily belong to some division of the picturesque, or be peculiar; and peculiarity, in trees, as in other objects, as Sir Joshua Reynolds has shown, is deformity rather than beauty.

Architectural and sculpturesque trees are now no longer in repute: but we see no reason why trees should not be cut into the forms of colonnades, arcades, triumphal arches, and the figures of men and animals, as shrubs are cut into the form of those green walls which, under the name of hedges, separate our fields; and exotic plants are dwarfed, by being grown in pots or boxes; and fruit trees flattened by being spread out against walls. We do not say that arcades of trees, tonsile bowers, and sculptured evergreens, such as were formerly common in French gardens, rank high in the scale of verdant beauty; we merely assert that they are productive of distinct kinds of beauty; and that it is by no means desirable to be exclusive, and limit our notions of what is beauty to that which is highest in the scale, or to those kinds only that happen to be fashionable in our time.

Viewing trees with reference to their beauty as organic forms, and to the interest which they are capable of exciting by calling forth associated ideas, the tree which is considered the most beautiful by man, in any country, will vary according to the knowledge of every individual, and the country in which he