THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



131 



ing watch and ward over a hillside 

 pasture, and at once, as it" the heavens 

 had been opened, there came a vision 

 as dear to us as the memory of that 

 sacred band of the loved and lost ! 

 How often has a footpath, winding 

 through the woods, opened suddenly 

 upon us, and in a moment a long past, 

 and perhaps long-forgotten hour of 

 joy, shone around about us 1 The trees 

 are indeed our companions, clothed by 

 us with the most delightful associations, 

 appealing and responding at once to 

 our sense of beauty, and preserving, as 

 it were, with tender care our choicest 

 memories. Their story is all told and 

 well told by the young Indian who, in 

 the midst of the splendor of Paris, re- 

 gretting the simple beauty of his native 

 island, sprang forward at the unex- 

 pected sight of a banana tree in the 

 Jardin des Plantes, embraced it while 

 his eyes were bathed in tears, and ex- 

 claiming with a voice of joy, *' Ah, 

 tree of my country," seemed by a de- 

 lightful illusion of sensibility to imagine 

 himself for a moment transpoi"ted to 

 the land which gave him birth. 



TREES OF HISTORY. 



And then what a living and vital 

 interest gathers about those trees which 

 either by accident or by design have 

 become monumental and representative. 

 To know them well is to be intimate 

 with the great deeds and the great men 

 of history. Into what classic associa- 

 tions and deeds of daring, and raging 

 and majestic conflicts by land and by 

 sea, and profound mysteries and rites 

 are we borne by the long and interest- 

 ing story of the 



OAK, 



the tree which Pliny says held " Hotws 

 apnd Romanoa perpetuus" — the highest 

 honor and repute with the Romans. 

 We recall the solemn ceremonies of the 

 Druids among the oak groves which 

 *Btood strong and solemn on English 



soil, during the morning twilight of 

 English civilization. The scarred and 

 sturdy tree near " White Lady's," in 

 which the defeated monarch hid him- 

 self after his almost miraculous escape 

 at the battle of Worcester — how like a 

 guardian angel it stands in the history 

 of royalty in England. 



The contemporary of this tree, the 

 wide-spreading oak of Hartford, spared 

 from the primeval forests of America, 

 as imposing and perhaps as ancient 

 as the Pyramids, decayed and bro- 

 ken, concealing in its stout heart 

 the Charter of Colonial Privileges — • 

 what a cherished and commanding 

 figure it is in the record of freedom on 

 this Continent ! What a tale of valor 

 and proud endeavor, and the heroism 

 which triumphs where " the battle 

 rages long and loud," could that pas- 

 ture oak tell, which was borne from 

 the fair hillside of Andover, Massa- 

 chusetts, to become the sternpost of 

 the immortal frigate Constitution 1 



THE ELM. 



Call to mind now the story of the elm 

 tree, and what a mingling of fable and 

 fiction and interesting fact gathers 

 around it. When Orpheus returned 

 to earth from his melodious mission for 

 Eurydice to the dominions of Pluto, 

 and sat him down upon the verdant 

 hill, it was the elm which first re- 

 sponded to his plaintive airs, and 

 offered him his refreshing shade. It 

 gave its name to the imi>erial city of 

 Ulm, in Germany, and as Elm wood it 

 designates the home of one of the most 

 brilliant of modern American poets. 



The elm planted by Henry IV., of 

 France, in the Luxembourg gardens of 

 Paris ; the elm which Queen Eliztibeth 

 planted with her own hands at Chelsea, 

 while waiting for the crown ; the elms 

 planted by Sir Francis Bacon in Gray's 

 Inn walks, will not be forgotten so long 

 as the memory of these remarkable 



