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The subject of Trees cannot be exhausted by treating them as individualsor species, even with a full enumeration of their details. Some treespossess but little interest, except as they are grouped in assemblagesof greater or less extent. A solitary Fir or Spruce, for example, whenstanding in an inclosure or by the roadside, is a stiff and disagreeableobject; but a deep forest of Firs is not surpassed in grandeur by one ofany other species. These trees must be assembled in extensive groups toaffect us agreeably; while the Elm, the Oak, and other wide-spreadingtrees, are grand objects of sight, when standing alone, or in any othersituation.
I will not detain the reader with a prolix account of the classificationof trees in assemblages, but simply glance at a few points. The Romansused four different words to express these distinctions. When they spokeof a wood with reference to its timber, they used the word silva;sal[Transcriber's note: remainder of word illegible], was a collectionof wild-wood in the mountains; nemus, a smaller collection, partakingof cultivation, and answering to our ideas of a grove; lucus was awood, of any description, which was set apart for religious purposes,or dedicated to some Deity. In the English language we can make thesedistinctions intelligible only by the use of adjectives. A forest isgenerally understood to be a wild-wood of considerable extent, retainingall its natural features. A grove is a smaller assemblage of trees,not crowded together, but possessing very generally their fullproportions, and divested of their undergrowth. Other inferior groupsare designated as copse and thicket. The words park, clump,arboretum, and the like, are mere technical terms, that do not comeinto use in a general description of Nature.
Groves, fragments of forest, and inferior groups only are particularlyinteresting in landscape. An unbroken forest of wide extent makes buta dreary picture and an unattractive journey, on account of its gloomyuniformity. Hence the primitive state of the earth, before it wasmodified by human hands, must have been sadly wanting in those romanticfeatures that render a scene the most attractive. Nature must becombined with Art, however simple and rude, and associated with humanlife, to become deeply affecting to the imagination. But it is notnecessary that the artificial objects of a landscape should be of agrand historical description, to produce these agreeable effects: humbleobjects, indeed, are the most consonant with Nature's sublime aspects,because they manifest no seeming endeavor to rival them. In the deepsolitary woods, the sight of a woodman's hut in a clearing, of afarmer's cottage, or of a mere sheepfold, immediately awakens a tenderinterest, and enlivens the scene with a tinge of romance.
The earth must have been originally covered with forest, like theAmerican continent in the time of Columbus. This has in all casesdisappeared, as population has increased; and groves, fragments ofwild-wood, small groups, and single trees have taken its place. GreatBritain, once renowned for its extensive woods, now exhibits onlysmaller assemblages, chiefly of an artificial character, which are moreinteresting to the landscape-gardener than to the lover of Nature'sprimitive charms. Park