2420

arboretum and fruticetum.

PART III.

tree, it is probably incorrect; if otherwise, it must have been upwards of 20years older than those at Chelsea.

Mr. Thompson, an artist, writing in the Gardener’s Magazine on the effectof the cedar in landscape scenery, observes that “ there is something evenarchitectural in the form of the cedar; the thick upright stem, and the hori-zontal branches which it supports, in a great measure accord with the pillarsand copings of buildings. This may be seen by reference to the inspiredpictures of Martin, when Assyrian history has been the subject of his pencil.He has realised all that the most vivid imagination could conceive of Easternsplendour; and the famous hanging gardens have not been forgotten. Inthem the cedar is the most prominent tree, which he has shown mixed withcypresses and a few low shrubs and flowers, forming a mass simple but grand,and quite in unison with the architectural character of the scene. The accom-panying sketch (fig. 2275.) is from an etching of the destruction of Babylon,and represents part of the hanging gardens. Thus it may be inferred that

cedars should always be the accompaniment of palaces, public buildings, andsuperior residences. The finest cedars I have seen are at Blenheim; buteven there they are not much contrasted with the architecture, but are spreadgenerally throughout the whole of the gardens ; and they appeared to me in agreat measure lost, from being so mixed up with other trees and shrubs:however, they serve to maintain the character of grandeur which belongs tothe place. On the banks of the great lake, where the present duke, since heleft White Knights, has formed his new flower-garden, extending from thehouse to the cascade, there are some very fine cedars; and it is curious toobserve how well they accord with the simplicity of garden scenery: but thismay be accounted for by their being supported by other large trees, fromthe extensiveness of the gardens, and from every thing around them being onso grand a scale. There are some garden scenes in which cedars would befound not only misplaced, but out of character, and injurious : as, for example,in the grounds of a small modern villa, they would be quite at variance withour ideas and associations as to what should attach to such a place. Theaccompanying sketch (fig. 2276.), though it forms a tolerable picture, will, Itrust, illustrate what I have been stating. The villa is rendered insignificant bythe stately presence of the cedars; and the cedars seem to have been there beforethe villa was built, as if they came by accident, and were foreign to the scene.In the next sketch (fig. 2277.), where I have supplied their place with a fewpendent and appropriate trees, the picture produced seems more consistent,more complete, and in better keeping. The form and character of the cedarare not suited to anything on a small scale, or that betrays want of effect in itsarchitectural features, or in the disposition of the ground: thus, one would notplace them in the centre of a home meadow or arable field, where oaks andelms are sometimes met with having a very good effect ; nor should theyever appear where the scenery is either domestic, homely, or tame. Nothingis more offensive, than to find a cedar, a cypress, or other stately tree, con-