94 



"Tai t^f Trap avTuv 



Aiydpoi nriXeai Tt tiiOKiov aXnog e(paivov." 



And there beside 

 Poplars and Elms their grateful shade threw wide. 



Theocritm— Idyll 7, 8. 



For our parks and for our pleasure grounds the value of the Elm as an 

 ornamental tree wants no recommendation, but its advantages to give beauty to 

 our towns and cities seems not to be so fully appreciated in England as it 

 should be. The Elm is peculiarly adapted for this purpose, and as a tree for 

 ■ close contiguity with houses it has no rival. It bears well the smoke of towns, 

 and whilst it throws a constant shade below, its boughs hang loosely, and it 

 leaves broad open spaces from side to side to let in light and air ; and, moreover, 

 where these are not found sufficient for the houses near, whole branches may be 

 removed without injury to the tree, and if carefully done, without marring its 

 beauty. On the Continent its virtues are fully appreciated, and whenever they 

 get space sufficient, they plant Elm trees in preference even to their great 

 favourite, the Lime tree ; and in such places, happily, they leave them liberty 

 of growth. 



In Herefordshire, the great progress of recent years has set orna- 

 ment aside. An utilitarian spirit has prevailed, and everything has given 

 way to commerce ; our towns are becoming simply lines of houses in brickwork, 

 in Bath stone, or in stucco ; without the quaint gables, and windows of 

 mediseval times, to give them interest, or without the fresh foliage of trees to 

 relieve the monotony and glare of the streets. 



Few cities have improved more rapidly than Hereford during the last 

 ten years : its streets have been enlarged, its pavements widened, old obstruc- 

 tions have been removed, new houses have been built, new shops opened, and 

 plate-glass has become general, not to mention those great unseen improvements, 

 more important still — complete drainage and water supply. If its commerce 

 has increased, if its inhabitants have grown more numerous, the foresight and 

 wisdom of its rulers have more than kept pace with the advance. The public 

 spirit they have shown, the great expenditvire they have incurred, will redound 

 more and more to their credit as years roll on. And yet, what is the general 

 effect on the appearance of the city itself? What might an art critic say of it ? 

 "Yes, gentlemen, you have no doubt very much improved your city for all 

 commercial purposes ; but you have swept away its picturesque features ; you 

 have carried off its old market-house, knocked down its projecting porticos, 

 cropped off its pretty gables, plaistered over its old timber houses, until nothing 

 is left of interest except such objects as you may see in the shop windows." 

 And there is a germ of truth in this, since the want of green foliage to relieve 

 the monotony has not yet been supplied. The trees our ancestors planted are 

 aU that we have, and they are so rapidly decaying that nearly every storm 

 brings down a bough. An Elm at the end of the Old House in the High-town, 



