It6 



alas ! completel}' changed; — and nought 

 bat moping melancholy now remains, to 

 brood on di/ing, dead, and leafless sprays. 



To say that trees, exhibiting such ap- 

 pearances in a slight degree, have got to 

 their growth, and can do no more good, 

 would be falling in with the common sen- 

 timent, which has no better reasons to sup- 

 port it, than that it is an old one ; and, 

 merely, the opinion of such as make use 

 of it. We ma}' say, however, that, as 

 usually managed, it is of little conse- 

 quence, whether both are true or false ; 

 for if once a tree is fully convicted of the 

 capital crime, a dead top, it is either spee- 

 dily executed, or left to die a lingering 

 death, its case being considered as com- 

 pletely hopeless. 



' If the reader can for a moment conceive 

 to himself a case extremely common; it is 

 that of a venerable Oak, once the pride, 

 now, apparently, the patriarch of the lawn ; 



