CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 



THE spirit of beauty was at the birth of the trees that give 

 us the hardy fruits of the northern world Crab, wild Plum, 

 Pear, and Cherry yielding back for us in their bloom the delicate 

 colours of the clouds, and lovelier far in their flowers than Fig or 

 Vine of the south. The old way of having an orchard near the house 

 was a good one. Planted for use, it was precious for its beauty, and 

 not only when the spring winds bore the breath of the blossoms of 

 Cherry, Plum, Apple, and Pear, as there were the fruit odours, too, 

 and the early Daffodils and Snowdrops, and overhead the lovely trees 

 that bear our orchard fruits Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums, Medlars, 

 Damsons, Bullaces, and Quinces. To make pictures to last round the 

 year, I should ask for many of these orchard trees on a few acres 

 of ground, none the worse if too hilly for the plough ; a belt of 

 Hollies, Yew, and Fir, on the cold sides to comfort trees and 

 men ; with careless garlands of Honeysuckle, Rose, and fragrant 

 Clematis among them here and there, and in the fence bank plenty 

 of Sweet Brier and Hawthorn. If we see fine effects where orchards 

 are poorly planted with one kind of tree, as the Apple (in many 

 country places in our islands there are no orchards worthy the name), 

 what might not be looked for of an orchard in which the beauty of all 

 our hardy fruit trees would be visible ? If we consider the number of 

 distinct kinds of fruit trees and the many varieties of each, we may 

 get some idea of the pictures one might have in an orchard, begin- 

 ning with the bloom of the Bullaces in the fence. The various 

 Plums and Damsons are beautiful in bloom, as in the Thames valley 

 and about Evesham. The Apple varies much in bloom, as may be 

 seen in Kentish and Normandy orchards, where the flowers of some 

 are of extraordinary beauty. The Pear, less showy in colour, the 

 Medlar, so beautiful in flower and in foliage, and the Quince, so pretty 

 in bloom in Tulip time, must not be forgotten. The Cherry is often 

 a beautiful tree in its cultivated as well as wild forms, and the Cherry 



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