If the more common appearances in nature were objects of our imitation, we should certainly plant the valleys and not the hills, since nature generally adopts this rule in her spontaneous plantations; but it is "la belle nature," or those occasional effects of extraordinary beauty, which nature furnishes as models to the landscape gardener. And although a wood on the summit of a bleak hill may not be so profitable, or grow so fast, as one in the sheltered valley, yet its advantages will be strongly felt on the surrounding soil. The verdure will be improved when defended from winds, and fertilized by the successive fall of leaves, whilst the cattle will more readily frequent the hills when they are sheltered and protected by sufficient screens of plantation *.
*[This remark is verified at ASTON, where it is found that more cattle are fed in the park from the improved quality of the pasture, since the quantity has been reduced by the ample plantations made within the last ten years.]
