TREES, EVERGREENS, AND SHRUBS. 29 



furniture. When I allude to this use of our trees, I do 

 not intend to wander into a history of the art of veneering, 

 or of the craft of the cabinetmaker, but to suggest merely 

 that it may sometimes be found interesting to have some 

 record of a favourite tree ; and when this is desired, getting 

 it made into some article of furniture seems one of the 

 most sensible as well as satisfactory methods of securing 

 a memento. The love of having furniture made out of 

 rare or fine wood, is by no means a modern taste, for it is 

 said that enormous sums were spent in this manner by the 

 ancients ; and it is said by Evelyn, that when the men at 

 any time reproached their wives for extravagance, they 

 M^ere wont to retort and turn the taUes upon their husbands. 

 Hence the origin of the proverb of turning the tables upon 

 any one. 



Great as the beauty of trees in their leafless state is, it 

 cannot be denied that in the winter season it is to our ever- 

 greens we look chiefly both for ornament and shelter, and as 

 these are more dependent upon our care in training, prun- 

 ing, and cultivating them than our hardier and more in- 

 dependent friends the forest trees, they are generally, I 

 think, regarded by their owners with more affection, and 

 removed with more reluctance. No country residence, be 

 it large or small, should be without evergreens near enough 

 to the house to be seen and enjoyed from the windo\YS, 

 and in sufficient numbers to give a clothed, sheltered ap- 

 pearance. It is true these shrubs are generally of slow 

 growth ; but, even when young, there is a feeling of comfort 

 and shelter connected with their green life Avhen all around 



