Around the " Pond " — First Excursion 



leaves are so covered with a white cottony substance as 

 to give, at a distance, the effect of full bloom ; but the 

 common aspen leaf is not thus blanketed in infancy. 



The Lombardy poplar is the most columnar — fastigi- 

 ate, as botanists call it — of all our trees. Several small 

 ones are near the ^ ' Pond, ' * but a fine cluster of full-grown 

 ones may be seen at the extreme northern end of the 

 Park near the east wall. It is a tree that requires good 

 judgment in planting, as its singularly slender form does 

 not blend with all surroundings. It is a favorite tree 

 for country roads in some parts of Europe, but why I 

 could never comprehend, as its capability for shade is 

 almost nil. 



Balsam poplar and balm of Gilead are two less familiar 

 members of the family ; and it is interesting to note, in 

 this as in similar instances, the resemblances that be- 

 tray kinship, sometimes plainly, often so subtly as al- 

 most to defy description. Indeed, the comparison and 

 contrast of allied forms is one of the most important 

 sources of pleasure in plant study, and increases our 

 wonder at the profound scheme of creation that has 

 clothed the earth with such bewildering diversity of 

 beauty, yet all its forms, in tones fainter or louder, ever 

 proclaiming their relationship and common origin. 



Just as this earth is the theatre of man's evolution and 

 attainment of ideals, is it not equally true that, along 

 lower lines, other ideals in vegetable and animal life 

 have been constantly aimed at through the long ascent 

 from the original protoplasm? In recognizing this 

 earth as a vast moral and intellectual theatre, we must 

 not forget that it has been, through millions of years, 



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