

NIGHTINGALE ROAD 43 



At the end of the hedge which is near a brook, a 

 sedge-reedling takes up his residence in the spring. 

 The sedge-reedlings here begin to call very early; the 

 first date I have down is the i6th of April, which is, I 

 think, some weeks before they begin in other localities. 

 In one ditch beside the road (not in this particular 

 hedge) there grows a fine bunch of reeds. Though 

 watery, on account of the artificial drains from the 

 arable fields, the spot is on much higher ground than 

 the brook, and it is a little singular that while reeds 

 flourish in this place they are not to be found by the 

 brook. 



The elms of the neighbourhood, wherever they can 

 be utilised as posts, are unmercifully wired, wires 

 twisted round, holes bored and the ends of wire driven 

 in or staples inserted, and the same with the young oaks. 

 Many trees are much disfigured from this cause, the 

 bark is worn- off on many ; and others, which have re- 

 covered, have bulging rings, where it swelled up over 

 the iron. The heads of large nails and staples are easily 

 discovered where the wire has disappeared, sometimes 

 three or four, one above the other, in the same tree. 

 A fine avenue of elms which shades part of a suburb 

 appears to be dying by degrees the too common fate 

 of elms in such places. 



How many beautiful trees have thus perished near 

 London? witness the large elms that once stood in 

 Jews' Walk, at Sydenham. Barking the trunks for sheer 

 wanton mischief is undoubtedly the cause in some cases, 

 and it has been suggested that quicksilver has occa- 

 sionally been inserted in gimlet holes. The mercury is 

 supposed to work up the channels of the sap, and to 

 prevent its flow. 



But may not the ordinary conditions of suburban 



