TREES IN CITIES. 95 



lovely verdure, which persists throughout the most scorching 

 summers. No tree is better suited for planting in a street, for it 

 is of moderate size and stands pruning well. 



As for the poplars, we must rely on exotic species, such as the 

 Carolina, the balsam, and the black poplar, for our native Abele 

 is intolerant of smuts on its cottony foliage, while the aspen 

 is a true mountaineer, and hates town life. It puzzles one to 

 understand why these trees take so kindly to the arid soil of 

 London, seeing that their natural haunt is the water-side. Their 

 foliage remains fresh in virtue of a peculiar formation of the 

 leaf-stalk, which is flattened laterally along part of its length as 

 if it had been pinched when soft. This causes the leaves to hang 

 vertically, instead of being horizontally exposed to the sun, and 

 gives them the tremulous motion whence comes that soothing 

 murmur so grateful in sultry noons. 



The erect-growing Lombardy poplar, a variety of the black 

 poplar, succeeds very well in London when given a fair chance. 



That concludes the short list of forest trees which have 

 been proved able to grow vigorously in modern London ; for it 

 is doubtful whether the evergreen oak could be reared to 

 maturity in the present condition of the town, although they 

 once throve there. In Chelsea Physic Garden, the grounds of 

 Marlborough House, and elsewhere, a few specimens of moderate 

 size may be seen. Think not that the fine elms in the parks 

 can be perpetuated. What are there will fulfil their span, which 

 is near its close, but they cannot be replaced until fireplaces are 

 constructed to consume their own smoke. 



Among trees of humbler growth, the following are mentioned 

 as being grown successfully, chiefly in open parks and gardens : — 

 mulberry, Caialpa bignonoides, laburnum, red and white 

 hawthorn, almond, Cotoneaster frigidus from Nepal, and the 

 gingko or maidenhair tree. 



With passing comment on the fine bushes of Arbutus 

 Andrachne in Battersea Park, the promising appearance of the 

 young liquidambers in St James's Park, and the probability of 

 success with some species of Sorbus in the other parks, two or 

 three forms of vegetation which specially accommodate them- 

 selves to cultivation in towns are mentioned. These are : — 

 Hibiscus syriacus, Clematis montana, Wistaria, Clerodendron 

 trichotomum, Aucuba, privet, and the New Zealand daisy bush 

 {Oiearia Haastii), which last has proved one of the easiest 

 subjects for town culture. 



