224 COLLEGE GARDENS 



the authorities) was the rule against picking the flowers, that 

 it is said that even the Warden (Dr. Sewell) himself was not 

 aware of how soon they fell when plucked and put in water, 

 until he tried the experiment with some which he had forcibly 

 taken from an American visitor. 



He had the branch taken away from the tripper, and said 

 to one of the present Fellows (A. F. W.) that it had enabled 

 him to discover, what he had long wanted to know the 

 behaviour of the flowers when placed in water. For all those 

 years for the incident occurred about 1898 he had sub- 

 ordinated his curiosity to his respect for the tree ! There 

 were younger members of the College who could have told 

 him that the flowers would not live in water. 



A Cedar, so Professor Turner informs me, was planted in 

 memory of Bryan Alt, who left a sum of ^10 in his will for 

 the garden. 



Many of the trees have been admirably planted to illustrate 

 the exceeding great value of trees as screens at the back of 

 ugly buildings, which, like so many others in Oxford, are the 

 works of modern architects, who closely resemble those de- 

 scribed by Pugin : 



Some raise a front up to the church 



Like old Westminster Abbey ; 

 . And then they think the Lord to cheat, 

 And build the back part shabby. 



The identity of one of the trees was for long a matter of 

 controversy in College, and the following type of dialogue 

 was not an uncommon one in the Common Room : 



"The Spanish Elder" (spoken with assurance) "is not looking very 

 well to-day." 



" No, the American Oak " (spoken with polite but frigid emphasis) 

 "has been going off of late." 



" I have noticed that the Spanish Elder," etc. 



The tree did not long survive the misunderstanding, and its 

 real name is still a mystery to us. 



