1884.] THE ENGLISH LAND MARKET. 39 



those of an older growth, and when on the same tree they form a 

 curious appearance. With the exception of some rows of Lombardy 

 poplars, I have nowhere seen a uniformity of trees planted along the 

 streets ; but willow, locust, eucalyptus, cypress, live oak, and various 

 semi-tropical trees and shrubs, which have been chiefly brought from 

 Australia, are planted, and the effect is very rich and luxuriant. 

 Heliotrope grows as rankly as wild roses, but loses its fragrance after 

 having been exposed to the hot sun. It is often trained into tree 

 form, as are roses and fuchsias. From what I have seen, roses do 

 not bloom perfectly, at least in the summer months, the dry weather 

 causing the blossoms to blast. Dahlias bloom magnificently, and a 

 plantation I saw of them in the Golden Gate Park was a splendid 

 sight. This park has been reclaimed entirely from ' sand lots,' over 

 1000 acres of sand being planted with trees, and made into lawns and 

 flower gardens, that are dazzling beyond description. The part that 

 has been put in order is of exquisite beauty, the trees and shrubbery 

 in particular being charming. The gardener told me that 200,000 

 trees had been planted this last year. The park grounds extend to 

 the ocean, and it is curious to see acres of sandhills planted with 

 small pine and other trees that will grow in sand. Some of tiie 

 hills are planted with a kind of sea-grass to prevent the sand from 

 blowing, for it drifts and blows about in the -wind like snow. The 

 city of San Francisco is built on just such sandhills, and all excava- 

 tions for foundations that I have seen have disclosed vast beds of 

 sand, and nothing miore stable, which reminds one of the paraljle of 

 the two house-l-iuilders ; but the houses here seem to stand as well 

 as if built on a rock." 



THE ENGLISH LAND MAEKET. 



ACCOEDIjSTG to the Land Agents Record, a favourable change 

 in the recently so much depressed value of land appears to 

 be setting in. One cause of this is doubtless the favourable 

 character of the two last agricultural seasons, which appears to 

 have given unwonted buoyancy to financial operations. Attention 

 is directed to important actual sales of purely agricultural land 

 made durmg the early days of October. In Bedfordshire 11,000 

 acres, divided into various farms, let at about 35 s. an acre, have 

 realized an average of £51 per acre, and it is a noticeable and 

 important feature of this sale that tenant farmers were in some 

 cases large buyers. In Kent 1000 acres of agricultural land of 

 moderate qiialit}^ have been sold for £38,000, an average of £38 

 an acre ; a large portion of this acreage is woodland, and therefore 



