26 PINES 



would be far readier to dispense with any honour in 

 these directions than their congeners in the Celestial 

 Kingdom. 



We must remind again those who would plant 

 for themselves, as well as for that haunting vision 

 lightly spoken of as posterity, that it is not until 

 the middle ages of its existence, until after some 

 two score and ten years have passed by, and the 

 nursery days have been left behind some half a 

 century, that this P. Bungeana takes upon itself 

 to assume this white robe of glory, or penitential 

 sheet, in whichever light you may prefer to liken its 

 curious transfiguration. 



Why, it may well be asked, was not this rare gem 

 of the earth brought more to the notice of those 

 who were planting rarities in the forties of the last 

 century ? Had they been, our seniors in life's 

 progress, the seniores priores of the middle-aged 

 and elderly to-day, might have bequeathed to us, 

 and to the generations in life's tenure after us, an 

 opportunity to revel in a new sight, and admire a 

 new wonder. 



The Silver Birch, or " Lady of our Woods," as the 

 tree has been poetically described by Sir Walter Scott, 

 although not a tree chosen to reflect white rays upon 

 the sepulchres in a Western country burial-ground, 

 as are the Bungeana in China, for all that are treasured 

 by us for the conspicuous beauty of their gleaming 

 white stems. If by chance any other species of the 

 Birch tree arises and tries to outshine our native 

 product — as have, for instance, the Betula Utilis from 

 the Himalayas (in those few places where it will 

 thrive), or the hardier P. Papyrifera (the Canoe Birch 

 of American Redskins), and some of the forthcoming 

 expectations from Chinese exploration — those species 

 are eagerly sought for and planted, but the P. Bun- 

 geana seems to have been left out in the cold of neglect, 



