244 THE GIANT CYPBESSES OF VERONA. [Feb., 



lift spire-like shafts of evergreen foliage into the glowing blue of the 

 Italian sky. The trees stand very close together in the lines, not 

 more than from seven to ten yards separating them, so that, looking 

 from the end of the path, one sees a perfect wall of foliage extending 

 away to the base of the cliff, for the lines do not come to an end with 

 the pathway, but climb up in terraced beds at either side of the long 

 flight of steps. The avenue thus formed is as absolutely regular and 

 perfect as the world-renowned avenue of Palms at liio, and the avenue 

 of ancient Yews in the gardens of Melbourne Hall, Derbyshire, which 

 some months since formed the su.bject of a very interesting article 

 in the pages of * FoEESxrwY.' And not only is the avenue striking by 

 reason of its rigid regularity ; its component parts boast of exquisite 

 symmetry, great freedom of growth, luxuriant foliage, and, perhaps, 

 unsurpassed altitude. The symmetry of the Cypress renders it con- 

 spicuous among a collection even of ornamental trees and shrubs ; 

 the elegance of its tall tapering trunk, round and up which the 

 branches cling and cluster, clothing it completely with their profusion 

 of black-green foliage, never fails to attract and please the eye. 

 Amongst deciduous trees, a Poplar gives, though in a smaller measure, 

 the same effect, and is always welcomed by the artist or the lover of 

 landscape scenery. In Australian forests the Sassafras is similarly a 

 subject of admiration, its growth being very much akin to that of the 

 Cypress, and the beautiful hue of its light-green foliage offering a 

 grateful contrast to the brownish-green tints of the Eucalypti. So 

 fresh indeed is the appearance of the leafage clothing its lofty spire 

 when the sunlight streams upon it, that it would almost seem as 

 if it had sprung up from the floor of the forest as the growth of a 

 single night, and was flourishing in its perfection of beauty for a few 

 short hours only before the fervid rays of an Australian sun should 

 effect its vivid greenery. 



But to return to my notes on these giant Cypresses. Giants they 

 are in very truth ; the eye tells one that at the first glance, and 

 accurate measurement affords full confirmation of early impressions. 

 The trees vary but little either in growth or altitude, or, as far as can 

 be judged from observation, in age. I could not ascertain when they 

 were planted, and I am ignorant of the average length of life of a 

 Cypress, though I believe it to be of far longer life than the majority 

 of our English forest trees. At a guess, I should say that all the 

 trees in the avenue were more than a century old, and certainly not 

 one of them exhibited the smallest symptom of incipient decay. Each 

 is so exactly a counterpart of its neighbour that one cannot help 

 feeling that when decay has once set in, a few years only will elapse 

 between the demise of the first and the last. Proceeding to measure- 

 ments, I found the average girth of trunk at four feet from the 



