The axe of the original backwoodsman appears to have left such a mania for clearing behind it, even in those portions of the Atlantic states where such labor should be for ever silenced, that some of our finest places in the country will be found much desecrated and mutilated by its careless and unpardonable use; and not only are fine plantations often destroyed, but the banks of some of our finest streams and prettiest rivulets partially laid bare by the aid of this instrument, guided by some tasteless hand. Wherever fine brooks or water courses are thus mutilated, one of the most necessary and obvious improvements is to reclothe them with plantations of trees and underwood. In planting their banks anew, much beauty and variety can often be produced by employing different growths, and arranging them as we have directed for the margins of lakes and ponds. In some places where easy, beautiful slopes and undulations of ground border the streams, gravel, soft turf, and a few simple groups of trees, will be the most natural accompaniments; in others where the borders of the stream are broken into rougher, more rocky, and precipitous ridges, all the rich wildness and intricacy of low shrubs, ferns, creeping and climbing plants, may be brought in to advantage. Where the extent to be thus improved is considerable, the trouble may be lessened by planting the larger growth, and sowing the seeds of the smaller plants mingled together. Prepare the materials, and time and nature, with but little occasional assistance, will mature, and soften, and blend together the whole, in their own matchless and inimitable manner.
