Plantations on ancient woodland

There is no mistake so common as that of filling up a recess in a venerable wood with a miserable patch of young plantation. The outline of a wood can never be too boldly indented, or too irregular; to make it otherwise, by cutting off the projections, or filling up the hollows, shews a want of taste, and is as incongruous as it would be to smooth the furrowed bark of an aged oak.