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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

from tlie whiteness of its hark, which renders it more conspicuous in winterthan in summer. Its stem, as Gilpin observes, “ is generally marked withbrown, yellow, and silvery touches, which are peculiarly picturesque, as theyare characteristic objects of imitation for the pencil, and as they contrastagreeably with the dark green hue of the foliage. But only the stem andlarger branches have this varied colouring. The spray is of a deep brown, whichis the colour, too, of the larger branches where the external rind is peeled oft!As the birch grows old, its bark becomes rough and furrowed : it loses all itsvaried tints, and assumes a uniform ferruginous hue.” (Forest Scenery , vol. i.p. 70.) The weeping variety, which, Gilpin says, is sometimes called thelady birch,from “its spray being slender, and longer than that of the commonsort, forms an elegant, pensile foliage, like that of the weeping willow; and,like it, is put in motion by the least breath of air. When agitated, it is welladapted to characterise a storm, or to perform any office in landscape whichis expected from the weeping willow.” ( Ibid .)

The birch, however, being an extremely common tree in various districts,and never being suffered to grow in any quantity, in its native countries, inthose soils and situations where other trees will thrive, there are certain asso-ciations connected with it which are unfavourable to its use in gardenesquescenery. Nevertheless, it must be allowed that these associations can onlybe experienced by those who have seen the tree in its native habitats. Nativesof Scotland, North Wales, Sweden, Russia, and Germany would regard thebirch as indicating poor, sandy, boggy, or rocky soil; and would not placeit on a lawn; from the same feelings that would prevent a London planterfrom placing there the alder, or any of the common willows. In the gar-denesque style, therefore, or in that species of picturesque which is animitation of nature, and not an identification of her scenery, the birch, in mostparts of Europe, would require to be planted in situations where it would notbe conspicuous; and never where it would form a leading feature in anygeneral view. The same principle applies in the case of every indigenous tree;and with a force proportionate to the commonness of that tree in the countrywhere the gardenesque plantation is to be made. A residence planted in astyle truly gardenesque ought, as we have often observed, to have no indigenoustrees in it whatever.

Where plantations are to be made in the elegant or artistical picturesquestyle, and which are intended to form scenes which will be consideredby painters as equally worthy of their study with picturesque naturalscenery, and yet never for a moment be mistaken for it, the introduc-tion of the birch must be guided by exactly the same principles as in thegardenesque. It must never be planted in small groups, but always ingroups of such a size as to be only seen in association with other trees.The exceptions to this last rule are, situations at a distance from scenerywhere the birch is indigenous; and these may be considered as occur-ring in all fertile valleys and plains. However beautiful the birch tree maybe in itself, and especially when it assumes the weeping form, it would beinconsistent with sound principles to plant it on lawns either in North Walesor the Highlands of Scotland; though in the neighbourhood of London, andmany parts of England, it may be justly admitted, even on lawns, as one of themost elegant of our ornamental trees.

Where the common birch is so favourite a tree as to make it desired inconsiderable numbers, the only mode of introducing it into artificial sceneryin countries where it abounds, is by planting it in avenues, or in geometricallines ; or by having a scene expressly devoted to a fac-simile imitation of nature.Where, in planting a park, the object is to cause it to be mistaken for anatural forest, then, if the soil is poor, the birch may be planted or sown in im-mense quantities; the object in this case being fac-simile imitation. In every resi-dence, also, where there is an arboretum (and we trust that the time will sooncome when there will be no gentleman’s seat of any extent without one), thebirch, like every other indigenous tree, will, of course, find a place. In resi-dences to be formed in hilly or mountainous scenery where the birch does