The Lunatic Asylum 



tree they still remained green on this mass until long after 

 Christmas, and had not all fallen when new growth com- 

 menced. A year or two after, a violent February gale 

 blew down many trees, and this Elder among them. I was 

 loth to lose my quaint Witch's Broom, and so cut it off with 

 a foot of stem of ordinary Elder wood, and planted it in 

 the Lunatic Asylum, treating the stem as a root, and it 

 has never shown any sign of discontent nor shot up any 

 normally strong Elder shoots from below ground, and the 

 masses of small congested growths have perfectly retained 

 their very original character. 



Cuttings struck from them make very interesting, round, 

 bushy plants, and though they increase fairly rapidly in 

 width do not grow more than 8 to 10 inches high in several 

 years, and are practically evergreen, as the old leaves last 

 on until the new ones push them off. 



Yet another Elder has been certified insane and admitted 

 to this select company. Its madness consists in the greater 

 portion of the lamina of the leaf blades being reduced to a 

 mere thread, and it looks as though an army of locusts or 

 caterpillars had halted to dine on it, but for all that has 

 rather a soft, ferny look from a distance. 



Two Laburnums have developed strange habits, and 

 qualified for admittance : one pretends to be an Oak, and 

 has, so far as it can, imitated its leaves, and the name of 

 quercifolium has been added to its own of Laburnum vulgare- 

 The flowers are of a good rich yellow, but of course turn 

 to ordinary pods, not acorns. The second is var. involu- 

 tum, and has every leaflet rolled inward, giving the whole 

 tree a heavy, congested appearance, and at close quarters 

 one would think the leaves must be full of green fly to be so 

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