Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARBORETUM

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 338 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ARBORETUM , the name given to that See also:

part of a See also:garden or See also:park which is reserved for the growth and display of trees. The See also:term, in this restricted sense, was seemingly first so employed in 1838 by J. C. Loudon, in his See also:book upon arboreta and See also:fruit trees. See also:Professor Bayley See also:Balfour, F.R.S., the Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in See also:Edinburgh, has described an arboretum as a living collection of See also:species and varieties of trees and shrubs arranged after some definite method—it may be properties, or uses, or some other principle—but usually after that of natural likeness. The See also:plants are intended to be specimens showing the See also:habit of the See also:tree or See also:shrub, and the collection is essentially an educational one. According to another point of view, an arboretum should be constructed with regard to picturesque beauty rather than systematically, although it is admitted that for scientific purposes a systematic arrangement is a .sine qua non. In this more See also:general respect, an arboretum or woodland affords shelter, improves See also:local See also:climate, renovates See also:bad soils, conceals See also:objects unpleasing to the See also:eye, heightens the effect of what is agreeable and graceful, and adds value, See also:artistic and other, to the landscape. What Loudon called the " gardenesque " school of landscape naturally makes particular use of trees. By See also:common consent the arboretum in the Royal Botanical Gardens at See also:Kew is one of the finest in the See also:world. Its beginnings may be traced back to 1762, when, at the See also:suggestion of See also:Lord See also:Bute, the See also:duke of See also:Argyll's trees and shrubs were removed from Whitton See also:Place, near See also:Hounslow, to adorn the princess of See also:Wales's garden at Kew. The duke's collection was famous for its cedars, pines and firs.

Most of the trees of that date have perished, but the survivors embrace some of the finest of their See also:

kind in the gardens. The botanical gardens at Kew were thrown open to the public in 1841 under the directorate of See also:Sir See also:William See also:Hooker. Including the arboretum, their See also:total See also:area did not then exceed 11 acres. Four years later the See also:pleasure grounds and gardens at Kew occupied by the See also:king of See also:Hanover were given to the nation and placed under the care of Sir William for the See also:express purpose of being converted into an arboretum. Hooker See also:rose to the occasion and, zealously reinforced by his son and successor, Sir See also:Joseph, established a collection which rapidly See also:grew in richness and importance. It is perhaps the largest collection of See also:hardy trees and shrubs known, comprising some 4500 species and botanical varieties. A large proportion of the total acreage (288) of the Gardens is monopolized by the arboretum. Of the more specialized public arboreta in the See also:United See also:Kingdom the next to Kew are those in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and the Glasnevin Garden in See also:Dublin. The collection of trees in the Botanic Garden at See also:Cam-See also:bridge is also one of respectable proportions. There is a small but very select collection of trees at See also:Oxford, the See also:oldest botanical garden in See also:Great See also:Britain, which was founded in 1632. In the United States the See also:Arnold Arboretum at See also:Boston ranks with Kew for See also:size and completeness. It takes its name from its donor, the friend of See also:Emerson.

It was originally a well-timbered park, which, by later additions, now covers 222 acres. Practically, it forms part of the park See also:

system so characteristic of the See also:city, being situated only 4 M. from the centre of See also:population. There is a See also:fine arboretum in the botanical gardens at See also:Ottawa, in See also:Canada (65 acres). On the See also:continent of See also:Europe the classic example is still the Jardin See also:des Plantes in See also:Paris, where, however, system lends more of formality than of beauty to the general effect. The collection of trees and shrubs at Schonbrunn, near See also:Vienna, is an extensive one. At Dahlem near See also:Berlin the new Kgl. Newer Bolanlsclzer Garten has been laid out with a view to the See also:accommodation of a very large collection of hardy trees and shrubs. There are now many large collections of hardy trees and shrubs in private parks and gardens throughout the See also:British Islands, the See also:interest taken in them by their proprietors having largely increased in See also:recent years. See also:Rich men collect trees, as they do paintings or books. They spare neither pains nor See also:money in acquiring specimens, even from distant lands, to which they often send out See also:expert collectors at their own expense. This, too, the Royal Horticultural Society was once, wont to. do, with valuable results, as in the See also:case of See also:David See also:Douglas's remarkable expedition to See also:North See also:America in 1823-1824. It will be remembered that when the See also:laird of Dumbiedikes See also:lay dying (See also:Scott's See also:Heart of Midlothian, See also:chap. viii.) he gave his son one See also:bit of See also:advice which See also:Bacon himself could not have bettered.

" Jock," said the old reprobate, " when ye hae naething else to do; ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping." Sir See also:

Walter assures us that a Scots See also:earl took this See also:maxim so seriously to heart that he planted a large See also:tract of See also:country with trees, a practice which in these days is promoted by the See also:English and Royal Scottish Arboricultural See also:Societies.

End of Article: ARBORETUM

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARBOR VITAE (Tree of Life) 		[next]
ARBORICULTURE (Lat. arbor, a tree)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries