TREES IN THE GARDEN 253 



our lawns. It is not easy to say why we should not 

 plant apples, which bear (especially the pippins) such 

 lovely flowers in great abundance, and which are 

 equally if not more beautiful when covered with their 

 fruit in autumn ; as a summer tree there are certainly 

 many more beautiful. The cherry-tree also is a de- 

 lightful tree both in flower and fruit, and the autumnal 

 tints are very rich, though not so rich in the cultivated 

 as in the wild cherries, which in some counties, espe- 

 cially in Oxfordshire, are marked features in the woods 

 and on some of the village commons, and in a mild 

 autumn the leaves cling to the trees for a long 

 time. For a short time in the spring the almond has 

 a special beauty, but the flowers are very short-lived, 

 and the tree is more suitable for a shrubbery than for a 

 lawn. 



But I must speak more of the many fine exotic 

 flowering trees, which I said should be planted on our 

 lawns in preference to our British forest trees. I sup- 

 pose there is really no more beautiful flowering tree 

 than the horse-chestnut, but I should not admit it into 

 the garden; for though it has only been introduced 

 about two hundred years, it has become one of our 

 commonest hedgerow trees, and may be admired there; 

 and although the foliage is very grand, the general out- 

 line and growth of the tree is too heavy and cumber- 



