In the woodland counties, such as Hertfordshire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, &c. it often happens that the most beautiful places may rather be formed by falling, than by planting trees; but the effect will be very different, whether the axe be committed to the hand of genius or the power of avarice. The land-steward, or the timber-merchant, would mark those trees which have acquired their full growth and are fit for immediate use, or separate those which he deems to stand too near together, but the man of science and of taste will search with scrutinizing care for groups and combinations, such as his memory recalls in the pictures of the best masters; these groups he will studiously leave in such places as will best display their varied or combined forms: he will also discover beauties in a tree which the others would condemn for its decay; he will rejoice when he finds two trees whose stems have long grown so near each other that their branches are become interwoven; he will examine the outline formed by the combined foliage of many trees thus collected in groups, and removing others near them, he will give ample space for their picturesque effect: sometimes he will discover an aged thorn or maple at the foot of a venerable oak, these he will respect, not only for their antiquity, being perhaps coeval with the father of the forest, but knowing that the importance of the oak is comparatively increased by the neighbouring situation of these subordinate objects; this will sometimes happen when young trees grow near old ones, as when a light airy ash appears to rise from the same root with an oak or an elm. These are all circumstances dependent on the sportive accidents of nature, but even where art has interfered, where the long and formal line of a majestic avenue shall be submitted to his decision, the man of taste will pause, and not always break their venerable ranks, for his hand is not guided by the levelling principles or sudden innovations of modern fashion; he will reverence the glory of former ages, while he cherishes and admires the ornament of the present, nor will he neglect to foster and protect the tender sapling, which promises, with improving beauty, to spread a grateful shade for future "tenants of the soil."
