The Tree of Saint Louis in the Forest 

 of Fontainebleau 



By \V I I. L I A M A. .M l' K* K* I L L 



Assistant Director of llio Xew York Hol:niicMl (iardi'ii 



THE forest of Foiitainclilcaii, sittiati'd 

 about thirty-live miles east of Paris, 

 is the largest and moat lieautiful 

 tract of woodlaiul in France. Conspicuous 

 among its trees are splendid oaks and pines 

 and beeches, and the forest tloor is covered 

 here and there with dense undergrowths of 

 bracken fern. Where the soil is sandy and 

 water scarce, as at Franchard, i)icturesque 

 gorges and passes appear with rocks heajjcd 

 about in confusion and stretches of heather 

 with an occasional stunted juniper or skele- 

 ton of a dead tree, presenting the greatest 

 contrast to the subdued and attractive forest 

 depths. 



While visiting Fontainebleau not long 

 ago, I was struck with the number of trees 



bcai-ing the nani(>s of noted men. Most of 

 tiiese trees were oaks, named for Charle- 

 magne, Clovis, Francis I, Henry IV, and 

 others; but the one that attracted me most 

 was a beech called the Tree of Saint Louis. 

 Louis IX, or 8aint Louis, stood almost 

 alone among the kings of France for virtue 

 and piety. His piety was simple and fer- 

 \ent, his life frugal, honest, and chaste. 

 Tall, strong, keen-eyed, and sanguine, he 

 delighted in the dangers of the chase and 

 was calm and fearless in battle. The strife 

 of his early years and the disasters of his 

 crusading expeditions served only to develop 

 the sterling qualities inherited from his 

 mother, Blanche of Castile, and at the end 

 of his reign he was the first prince in Eu- 



IJeeelies in the largest and most beautiful woodland of France, the forest of Fontainebleau, about 

 thirt.v-five miles east of Paris, Many of the trees in this forest are named for noted men, — this view 

 is from a great beech called the Tree of Saint Louis 



305 



