2176

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

pine; the diversity of which may he partly owing to the great extent to whichthe tree has been planted in almost every part of the low country of Britain ;and the great difference between the tree in these plantations, and in itsnative habitats, in hilly or mountainous scenery. Even the difference be-tween the tree standing alone or in small groups, and growing in extensiveplantations, is so great, that it can hardly be recognised by a general observerto be the same species of tree. In close plantations, which have never beenthinned, the trees assume, after a certain number of years, a gloomy samenessof appearance; and, where these are planted in belts, as they often are, alonga public road, “ daylight may be seen for miles through their naked stems,chilled and contracted as they are with the cold.” The timber, also, of treesgrown in the fertile soils of the low country, which have been cut down, beingso much less strong and durable than Highland or foreign wood of the samekind, is another cause of the tree having got into bad repute, though thegreat objection to it is its appearance. Mason says, —

-“ The Scottish fir, in murky file,

Rears his inglorious head, and blots the fair horizon.”

The great contempt in which the Scotch fir is commonly held, saysGilpin, “ arises, I believe, from two causes. People object, first, to its colour:its dark murky hue is unpleasing. With regard to colour in general, I thinkI speak the language of painting, when I assert that the picturesque eyemakes little distinction in this matter. It has no attachment to one colourin preference to another, but considers the beauty of all colouring as result-ing, not from the colours themselves, but almost entirely from the harmonywith other colours in their neighbourhood. So that, as the fir tree is sup-ported, combined, or stationed, it forms a beautiful umbrage, or a murky spot.A second source of that contempt in which the Scotch fir is commonly heldis, our rarely seeing it in a picturesque state. Scotch firs are seldom plantedas single trees, or in a judicious group; but generally in close compact bodies,in thick array, which suffocates or cramps them; and, if they ever get loosefrom this bondage, they are already ruined. Their lateral branches are gone,and their stems are drawn into poles, on which their heads appear stuck ason a centre. Whereas, if the tree had grown in its natural state, all mischiethad been prevented: its stem would have taken an easy sweep, and itslateral branches, which naturally grow with almost as much beautiful irregu-larity as those of deciduous trees, would have hung loosely and negligently iand the more so, as there is something peculiarly light and feathery in it*foliage. I mean not to assert that every Scotch fir, though in a naturestate, would possess these beauties; but it would at least have the chanceof other trees; and I have seen it, though, indeed, but rarely, in such astate as to equal in beauty the most elegant stone pine. All trees, indeed,crowded together, naturally rise, in perpendicular steins; but the firthis peculiar disadvantage, that its lateral branches, once injured, nevershoot again. A grove of crowded saplings, elms, beeches, or almost anj|deciduous trees, when thinned, will throw out new lateral branches, a®in time, recover a state of beauty ; but, if the education of the fir has beeneglected, he is lost for ever.” {For. Seen., i. p. 91.)

The Scotch fir, in perfection, continues Gilpin, “ I think a very fine t' ee ’though we have little idea of its beauty; and it is generally treated with g 1 ^.contempt. It is a hardy plant, and is therefore put to every servile office,you wish to screen your house from the south-west wind, plant Scotch n >and plant them close and thick. If you want to shelter a nursery of J'° UI 'jtrees, plant Scotch firs; and the phrase is, you may afterwards weed tneout as you please. This is ignominious. I wish not to rob society °'. ? nhardy services from the Scotch fir; nor do I mean to set it in compel 1with many trees of the forest, which, in their infant state, it is accustom®shelter : all I mean is, to rescue it from the disgrace of being thought hnothing else, and to establish its character as a picturesque tree. ^

myself, I admire its foliage, both the colour of the leaf, and its m° ce